Operation Rebirth
by GothicDream
Summary: Guilty and depressed after the war, Heero sets out on the road to atonement. While roaming the world to correct his mistakes, he leaves a piece of his painful past everywhere he goes. He even picks up a few lessons and a friend or two along the way. 1xOC
1. Mission Accepted

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

* * *

Chapter 1- Mission Accepted

Heero walked through the halls of the space port of the station he was currently living on. It was the nearest station to where the Peacemillion had fought the Libra and thus had been the station where all of the survivors of the battle had been taken. All of the other gundam pilots had left soon after they'd arrived. Heero hadn't had anywhere to go, and so he'd stayed on the colony.

He had just left the hangar where he had given Relena a birthday card and teddy bear, and was deep in thought. Relena was the only person he really knew on the colony, and she had just left as well.

He couldn't really call anything a home—he never had. Most of his other friends had a home or someone they could go to. Heero had lived in space most of his life, but really the only thing he had ever done in space was fight. He had done nothing but fight on earth as well. Even his very last action as a soldier in the war, although it was neither on earth nor in space, had taken place in the atmosphere between the two. All he'd ever done was fight, and now that there was no fighting to be done, he was quite useless. He had no home, no purpose, nothing he really wanted to do except to make up for his mistakes—namely his life itself.

He was relieved that the war was over, but he didn't have a clue what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Noin had taken his Gundam to have it repaired somewhere. He didn't care. It had been the only thing he could rely on for most of his life, but he never planned on using it again.

Was it possible for him to repair all the damage he'd caused and still have a chance at a normal life? Probably not, he figured. By the time he was finished, he would be old and grey.

But he would still try. The only problem was…he had no idea how to be normal. He didn't know how normal people acted, what they did, or anything necessary to be normal. How many 'normal people' did he know?

_Well let's see… There are the other four Gundam pilots. Duo's kind of normal, but he's already got a life waiting for him. Wufei has completely disappeared. Trowa is a circus clown—scratch him immediately. And Quatre gave up a fortune to fight in a war. Noble, but stupid. _

_Moving on… _

_Relena_ _Peacecraft_—_or Darlian as she still calls herself._ _A spoiled rich kid, who through only minimal effort on her part and a lot of influence from her brother and family was for a brief time Queen of the World. Normal? Nah. Although if I ever need a place to stay, she'd surely take me in. She's always been kind of weird like that._

_Who else?_

_Sally Po? Noin? They have their hands full with trying to put the colonies and earth back together. I wouldn't mind cleaning up my mess, but dealing with delegates is not my thing. I don't want to be anywhere near that._

_So I know no normal people. This is oddly unsatisfying at the moment._

_What do normal people do? Well normal people my age go to school, but I have already surpassed everything they teach. College then? Forge a transcript? For what? What would I do? Put on a business suit and do paperwork all day?_

_This is pointless. I'm not fit to do anything but be a soldier. I don't know how to—_

Heero was snapped out of his thoughts. He had just been walking through the door of the port and onto the street when he bumped into someone. The person who had run into him dropped her ticket and a small stack of other papers. "Sorry." She muttered, kneeling down quickly to pick them back up. "I wasn't looking."

Heero just stood there staring at her. She was familiar somehow. _That girl._ He thought, staring at her. _She's the nurse._ Heero thought back to the time he'd first seen her. He hadn't paid much attention to her because he'd been tired from stopping the Libra from falling onto the Earth. To further distract him, he'd had the rest of the gundam pilots, Noin, Sally, Lady Une, and a few other crew members crowded into medical bay at the time. They were all bustling about tending to people's wounds and getting theirs tended to as well. They were also celebrating and congratulating each other—and especially him—on a job well done. He'd hardly noticed the young honey blonde girl cleaning and stitching his injuries. He had noticed her, though the next morning when she'd come to check on him.

Heero snapped back to reality to see the girl still on the ground shuffling her papers into a stack.

"You're leaving?" He asked as if it weren't obvious.

"Huh?" She looked up in surprise. She had thought he'd gone. "Isn't everyone?"

Heero just shrugged.

"Well there aren't many people left here, and I'm not really good with living on a space station like this, so I figured I'd head back to earth. Where are you heading?"

He shrugged again.

"Is that an 'I don't know' shrug or an 'I don't feel like telling you' shrug?" She asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he asked. "You have family?"

She grimaced. "Not really on good terms with them. I figured that I would go around to the towns that were hit the worst and help out where I'm needed. You know…rebuild things, get people back on their feet." Heero just stared at her. It was making her slightly nervous. "Uh…wanna come?" She asked.

Heero continued to stare at her. _She's normal. _He thought. _Not too clingy. Talks a lot though._

"Uh…" She started walking around him. She figured his silence was a 'no.' "Well…bye then."

"Yeah." He said stopping her in her tracks.

"Huh?" She turned back to look at him.

"I'll come." He said.

That was unexpected. Wasn't this guy supposed to not like to be around anyone? She shrugged it off before saying. "Flight's in thirty minutes, then. You'd better hurry and get your stuff."

Heero was nodded and took off running down the street. His decision was unexpected to him as well, but he had a gut feeling that he should go with her. And his gut was never wrong.

* * *

Heero breezed into the docking room just as the boarding call was made. He noticed the girl already at the desk handing the flight attendant her ticket. There weren't many people on this particular flight. The girl turned when he approached. She looked surprised to see him again. 

He didn't say anything and neither did she. She just shrugged and headed into the ship.

Heero handed the attendant the special pass he'd been given by Noin that allowed him free access to any ship at any time. The pass was signed by leader of the colony. The attendant looked at the pass oddly and then, turned the same look on him. Heero pulled out an ID to prove that the pass was really his. The attendant glanced at the card and then allowed him to pass.

Heero went down the aisle looking for the girl. He finally found her and took a seat across the aisle. She was sitting near the aisle as well and was looking nervous. The pilot came on the speaker announcing that the shuttle would take off shortly. The girl bit her lip and started to squirm and fidget nervously. Heero cocked an eyebrow in her direction, but didn't say anything.

The engines started the rev up, and Heero attached his seatbelt. He leaned back calmly in his seat and closed his eyes. He felt like a fool for running blindly into something, but he had an odd feeling that told him that he needed to go.

The shuttle suddenly lurched forward with a roar. Heero heard a light squeal beside him. He looked over to see the girl gripping the armrests with her eyes clenched shut. A few seconds later, the roar stopped and they were flying through space. The captain came over the intercom to inform them that the shuttle had safely left the station and was on its way to earth.

The girl opened her eyes and looked around confusedly. Her eyes settled on Heero for a moment before scanning the rest of the ship. Heero watched her with disinterest as she undid her seatbelt and scooted over to her window. She pressed her hands to the sides of the window and looked out. Then, she sat back in her seat and stared forward as though she were contemplating something. She seemed to come to some sort of conclusion because she nodded and turned to get back into her original seat. She froze when she saw that Heero was watching her, however. She chuckled embarrassedly and slid back into her seat.

"Hi." She said extending her hand to him. "I'm Audrey Harper. I think we kind of met but not really properly. I was—"

"The nurse." Heero interrupted her. He stared at her hand before clumsily taking it. He had only shaken someone's hand once and that had been with his rival, Zechs. "I'm Heero Yuy." He said.

"I guess I must seem like some kind of fool." She said chuckling self-consciously and leaning back into her seat. "You see the only other time I've ridden in a space shuttle, the take off was pretty terrifying. I was expecting this one to be turbulent too, but now that I think about it, I think it was just the different stages of the atmosphere and the air resistance that made the other flight so rocky."

Heero just stared at her.

She stared back for a few seconds before mumbling. "And you don't care." She got up and scooted back down to look out the window.

Heero stared after her for a while wondering what he'd gotten himself into. He decided that he would probably have been better off with Relena. Sure Relena was clingy and nosey, but she wasn't this talkative or senseless.

He leaned back and closed his eyes, eventually drifting off to sleep.

He was waken up a few hours later by the announcement that they were about to enter earth's atmosphere. He looked over at Audrey to see that she was curled up asleep against the window. She hadn't woken up at the announcement although she stirred a bit. Her seatbelt was dangling over the edge of the seat and there wasn't an attendant in sight. Heero sighed and got out of his seat. He realized that it was going to be hell living and working with this girl. She absolutely could not take care of herself.

He slid over to her and shook her. "Hey." He said when all she did was mumble and squirm. He shook her harder and eventually she snapped awake. She looked around groggily before her eyes rested on him. "Wha…"

At that moment, the pilot came on the intercom announcing that they were now entering earth's atmosphere, and the shuttle gave a jolt. Audrey was suddenly wide awake. She snapped her seatbelt and tightened it securely in less than a second. Heero figured that it wouldn't make any sense for him to go back to his seat, so he sat in the one he was standing in front of—which was right on the side of Audrey. After he'd buckled his own seatbelt, he looked over to find that Audrey was gripping the armrest in the same manner she had been earlier, except this time she was staring with a mix of wonder and terror out the window.

Audrey had been absolutely terrified the first, and only, time she'd flown on a space shuttle. At the time, she had thought she was heading towards a grand adventure. She hadn't really given a thought to the dangers of outer space or being involved in the war, although she'd been warned time and again. The only thing she'd been able think about was that she was going to _do_ something. She'd figured that she would help on the mobile suits and be an engineer, but because of the shortage of medical staff on the Peacemillion, she had been trained in medicine instead. It was all fine with her as long as she wasn't stuck inside of a school.

The shuttle landed with a jolt at a space port on the southern coast of North America. Heero and Audrey quietly got off of the ship and headed toward the street to hail a cab.

"I don't suppose you have any money." Audrey said.

Heero looked at her and pulled out his wallet. "A little." He said.

"A little?" She asked shoving her hand in her own pocket. "Enough to get us to Europe?" She pulled out a small wad of cash and flipped through it, before waving a hand in the air.

"No." Heero said. "Why didn't we just take a shuttle to Europe?"

"Because the colony we were on was for the US, and tickets to the US were cheaper. Besides, my estranged family lives a few hours away from here. They're loaded."

Heero remained silent. Figures she'd be American. He was suddenly seeing a resemblance between his new companion's and Duo's attitude—and their tendency to always be talking.

A cab finally pulled up and both of them got in. Audrey handed the driver the whole roll of cash and gave him directions to where they were going. The taxi sped off.

Neither of them talked for the whole ride, and two and a half hours later, they were standing in front of a huge house. Audrey led him through the gate and up the long decorated driveway until they reached the house.

Audrey paused at the door and cast a pitiful glance back at Heero. He just stared at her nonchalantly from his place a few feet away. With a heavy sigh, she rang the doorbell. The door was opened a few seconds later by a neat looking woman in a black dress. The woman stared at Audrey for a few seconds before a spark of recognition lit her face.

"Mademoiselle Audrey!" She exclaimed in French. "You're alive! Your father will be so glad to-"

"He's here?" Audrey asked as if she really would have preferred it if he were gone.

"Yes. Come in! Come in!" The maid said motioning them inside before scurrying off to another room. "Monsieur! Madame! It's a miracle…" Her excited voice trailed off as she got out of their hearing range.

Audrey gave Heero a nervous glance. He was stoic as usual. "Maybe you should…hide or something." She suggested.

He merely glanced over at her before staring forward again. He didn't move.

Audrey sighed, just as a voice boomed through the foyer.

"YOUNG LADY!" A man in his early sixties rushed in, fury in his eyes. A lady in probably her forties scurried behind him looking both worried and angry. "How dare you return to this house after all the disgrace you put this family through?! Do you know what you've done? You just suddenly disappeared! No word! You left your fiancée, your family, your future! You didn't tell us a thing! How do you think that makes me look? How am I supposed to ensure people that I can run a government if I can't even keep control of my own household?"

"Can we, perhaps, not discuss this now?" Audrey suggested when he stopped to take a breath.

The man's face got a bit darker, and his voice rose a bit as he continued.

"Young lady, what you did was very irresponsible and thoughtless!" He said, pointing a finger into her face. "The entire Cetiret family detests us now, and that has caused _me_ to lose prestige."

"So I suppose it would be a little hopeful to ask for a bit of cash, huh?" Audrey asked meekly.

Her father's face got very red and the woman placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. "Go to your room." He said in a low voice, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He scowled while taking in her choice of attire: an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "Put some decent clothes on. While you are in my house, you will act as a lady should. We will finish this discussion at dinner." He was about to leave, when he noticed Heero.

Heero had been standing silently by the door watching the entire exchange.

"Who the hell is that?" He rounded on Audrey pointing a meaty finger at Heero, but before Audrey could answer, he began speaking again. "Never mind." He said obviously trying to contain his anger. "I know you didn't like Eric, but to just run off and elope—"

"What?!" Audrey nearly shouted. "I did nothing of the sort!"

"I don't care!" He started walking away. The woman turned to follow him, but was stopped by his next command. "Lillian, take care of this."

The woman sputtered in indignation, before turning to the two teenagers. "Follow me." She said, nearly stomping toward the stairs. Audrey hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder and began walking dejectedly after her. Heero followed silently.

"I know where my room is, mother." Audrey said, causing the woman to turn.

"We removed all of your things a month after you left."

"Oh." She said. "Where exactly are they?"

"We gave them to charity."

"How kind of you." Audrey mumbled sarcastically. "So how exactly am I supposed to dress nicely for dinner if I don't have anything to wear?"

"We'll send one of the servants to fit you for new clothes." She said visibly trying to calm herself. Stopping in front of a door, she looked at Heero. "This will be your room. Dinner is at 7." She turned to continue down the hall. "One of the servants will cut your hair."

This finally got a reaction. "No."

"Pardon me?" Lillian turned to him with irritation.

Audrey quickly stepped in. "Uh…in his home…country…they take great pride in their hair. Therefore, he cannot cut it. It is against his customs." She looked at Heero, and motioned with her eyes for him to go into his room. "He will be sure to have it brushed neatly for dinner."

Lillian "hmphed" sending a superior look to Heero. She didn't like the fact that her daughter had been missing for months and then showed up with a punkish, insubordinate boy in tow, and she didn't hesitate to take out her displeasure on him. He didn't even acknowledge her. He just walked into his room and shut the door.

Lillian turned a disapproving glare back to Audrey before she continued down the hall. She stopped in front of another door. Her glare softened a bit. "It's not that we aren't happy to see you. We are just very disappointed at your actions. You behaved very irresponsibly, and that will not be tolerated in this house. Do you understand? You will stay here. And I mean _stay_. You are not to leave our property, and you are _especially_ not to go anywhere near that boy's room."

Audrey just nodded dejectedly before entering her room.

* * *

Heero was typing on his laptop when he heard a knock at the door. He didn't acknowledge it in the slightest, but just continued what he was doing. Therefore, he was quite irritated, when the door opened quietly, and a man walked in. 

"I am here to take your measurements sir." He said holding up a measuring tape.

Heero finally tore his eyes away from his computer to stare at him blankly.

"For your clothes sir."

"I've got clothes." Heero said and turned back to his computer.

The man chuckled and stepped forward, brandishing his measuring tape. "Master Harper will not stand for that. He insists that his guests be well dressed during their stay here. He will be paying for it, of course."

Heero looked down at what he was wearing: a uniform that he had borrowed from the space port in order to have access to Relena's hangar. The only other outfit he had was his green shirt, a pair of jeans, and spandex shorts. He could use some new clothes. And he wouldn't have to pay for them…

"Make it quick." He said standing and striding over to the man.

The servant immediately rushed over, and started measuring.

* * *

"That young man you brought here was really something." Jeanne, the maid that had greeted them, said putting a pearl studded barrette in Audrey's hair as she had done when Audrey was a child. "Very handsome! And you are quite a pretty young lady yourself." 

Audrey didn't respond, but just stared at the image of herself in the mirror. She was wearing a conservative, light yellow dress, with pearl earrings, and a matching pearl necklace. Her hair was down, falling past her shoulders, natural curls held in check by barrettes on each side of her face, gave her an elegant, but innocent look.

"Where have you been all this time?" Jeanne asked. She had been Audrey's confidant for years.

Audrey smiled a little, before turning around. She stood and walked quickly to her bed, motioning Jeanne to sit beside her. Jeanne followed, excited to hear of her young friend's adventures.

"I went to space!" Audrey said, the smile still in place.

Jeanne gasped and then giggled in excitement. She had never been to space. "Was it exciting?" She asked.

"It was terrible!" Audrey said. "At least the part I saw of it. But I'm jumping ahead of myself."

Jeanne leaned forward confidentially.

"A woman in the army came to our school. I had met her with father once although she didn't remember me."

Audrey's eyes took on a glazed look as she recalled the events that had brought her into the war. The first time she had seen anything war-related, she had been sitting beneath a tree near the cliff on the edge of the Peacecraft estate reading a book. It was one of her favorite places to read, and she spent most of her weekends there. It was a pretty long hike from the Peacecraft mansion where she had been sent to school, but it had a great view.

Audrey had been adopted at five years old because her present guardians couldn't have children of their own. She had been raised in the traditional fashion for proper ladies, but had never quite grown accustomed to the glamour and etiquette that was required for her life. At fifteen, she was sent to the upstart school of Relena Peacecraft, to learn how to conduct a country's affairs peacefully, but mostly because sending one's daughter to the Peacecraft institute had become a surefire way for her father to gain votes.

Audrey was not very comfortable around all of the dignitaries' daughters and usually preferred to be alone or buried in her studies. This, combined with her adverse opinions of Relena Peacecraft's theology had made her become somewhat of an outcast at the school.

That was why she often came to sit under the tree. She would occasionally read in the library as well, but it was a nice day, and she'd preferred to be outside.

She had been pretty engrossed in her book when she heard the sound of a jet. After a few minutes, the sound was so loud that she couldn't ignore it. She looked up from her book, suddenly irritated at the distraction and looked back to the jet. It was much closer than before.

She had thought it was odd that the jet looked to be descending—and pretty quickly at that. The nearest airport was miles away. Audrey continued to watch the jet as it got nearer and nearer. The jet—which she could now see was a large deep blue mobile suit transporter—continued to lose altitude. She remembered panicking and thinking that it was going to crash. She'd jumped up from her position and started running to where she figured it would hit.

The plane landed on its belly on the water, but continued on towards the cliff, Audrey pushed herself to pick up her speed when she realized that it wasn't stopping. As the jet got nearer to the cliff, Audrey stopped and braced herself for the crash, watching the jet the whole time. No crash came. The jet had flown into the cliff wall and had continued going.

Shocked, she'd slowly walked towards the edge of the cliff and lay down on her belly. She stretched her neck out and looked toward the base of the cliff. There was a small hole at the bottom, and she could see ripples from where the jet had probably drifted in. She had decided not to tell anyone for the time being and had just gone back to her room.

A few days later, Noin had arrived at the Peacecraft mansion.

Audrey had been in the library at the time, and she hadn't paid any mind when the three other girls in the room suddenly abandoned their studies to look out the window. She could remember their conversation exactly.

* * *

"_She's too old to be a student." One girl whispered to the two girls next to her. "She looks like she's a soldier—a high ranking one at that." Another said. The last statement finally caught Audrey's attention. She stood to look out of the window as well. She'd figured that the woman might explain the carrier. _

"_It's too late if you wanted to see her." The first girl said noting Audrey's interest. "She's already come inside."_

_The three girls stepped away from the window and went back to their table. They were still whispering to each other, although there was no one to disturb but Audrey. "If she's from the army, what's she doing here?"_

"_Maybe the war's finally reached this country." Audrey said without looking at the three girls. She just sat back at her table, separate from the other girls and continued reading._

"_Don't be stupid!" The third girl yelled. "This is a pacifist country."_

"_Is that possible?" The second girl asked worriedly._

"_Of course it's possible." Audrey said looking pointedly at the third girl. "We're a pacifist country, but all that that means is that we don't have an army to stop the mobile suits from attacking us. We rely on other people to do it for us. The war is going on no matter what kind of rhetoric Relena is spouting. I really don't see how she expects other people to fight so that she can say she's a pacifist."_

"_Audrey Harper! Don't talk about Ms. Relena that way!"_

_Audrey shrugged and turned back to her book. "Think what you want." _

* * *

Audrey returned to the present and looked at Jeanne. "The woman was Lucrezia Noin. She was a former officer in OZ back before it split. She was smuggling mobile suits into the country. Anyways, I found out about it, and kinda blackmailed her into letting me help maintain them." 

She chuckled remembering how bold she'd been.

* * *

_It had been around 12:30 at night. Most other people in the Peacecraft mansion were asleep. Audrey's mind was troubled by the recent events and so she just sat by the window staring at the stars. She nearly jumped when she heard footsteps in the hall. Curious to see who would be up and about at this time, she got up and peeked through the door just in time to see the person disappear around the corner._

That's Lucrezia Noin! _She thought_. What's a woman like her doing here in a pacifist country? I wonder if it was her in the carrier today!

_Audrey's curiosity was peaked and she knew that she was never going to be able to go to sleep. Quietly, she followed Noin down the hall. Noin stopped at a door and looked around. Audrey jumped back behind the corner and pressed herself against the wall. She heard the door open and leaned around the corner to see that Noin was no longer in the hall. Audrey looked around nervously and then followed her._

_Audrey was surprised to see that Noin had gone into the basement, but she continued to follow her. She ducked behind a crate at the bottom of the stairs when she heard Noin address someone. Relena's butler, Pagan, was standing near the back wall and turned at Noin's approach._

"_That was quite an entrance you made today." Pagan said to Noin. "I believe the whole student body is talking about it."_

"_I'm sorry." Noin said. "I needed to talk to Miss Relena in person and I thought it would be better for me to arrive at the front door than to come up from the basement." Pagan chuckled, and Noin continued. "I really didn't try to be noticed. I made sure to arrive in a time that everyone would be in their studies and I came in a plain black car. I probably shouldn't have worn my uniform, but I needed Miss Relena to know that I was serious." _

_Pagan nodded. "I understand. I am just worrying for Miss Relena, I guess. First, Romefeller sends a student here, and the next day you show up. I believe that Miss Relena is worrying that you will try to push her towards war as well."_

"_We both know that's the last thing I want." Noin said. "I love that she is so peaceful. She is our hope in establishing a new peace after the war. I just feel that I need to protect her. I was actually relieved when she forbade us from using mobile suits although it makes defending her more difficult."_

"_I agree." Pagan said and turned toward the wall. He flipped open what looked like a breaker box, and Audrey heard a series of beeps. Audrey memorized the pitches. _

_Audrey gasped as wall slid open to reveal an elevator. Pagan and Noin walked in and the door closed. _

_Audrey waited a few minutes before venturing to the elevator. She punched in a series of buttons that she figured would match the pitches. She grinned when the door slid open. There was only one button on the elevator and so she pressed it. The elevator immediately started to descend, and a few seconds later, the doors slid open again. The door sliding open along with her small gasp effectively blew her cover._

_Both Noin and Pagan whipped around, mouths agape. Noin ran back towards Audrey. "What are you doing in here?!" She yelled._

_Audrey didn't answer. Her gaze scanned all of the mobile suits in the hangar and settled on 01. "Is that a gundam?" She asked._

"_Miss Harper." Pagan admonished coming up beside Noin. "You should not be lurking about at this time of night."_

_Audrey tore her eyes away from the gundam and looked at Pagan. "I'm sorry Pagan. I couldn't sleep." She looked at Noin, who seemed to be panicking. "You see, yesterday, I saw a blue shuttle fly into a cave below the cliffs where I usually read." Noin's face turned from panicked to shocked._

"_You shouldn't have been there." Pagan said._

"_This is a school, not a penitentiary." Audrey said. "We can go where we like."_

"_Miss…" Noin started, her voice strained. _

"_Audrey." She supplied._

"_Miss Audrey, I don't believe you understand the implications of what you're witnessing."_

"_Yes I do." Audrey said assuredly. "I heard you talking-" _

"_You were eavesdropping?" Pagan said astonished._

"_-and I agree with you. I'm terribly sorry for listening in, but I just wanted to know what was going on. I think I am entitled to know of issues that concern my personal safety, don't you? I won't tell about this." She said. "And besides. There's not much that you can do to me aside from silencing me—although I don't think Relena would like it much if one of her students were murdered for knowing too much. And you can't really hand me over to her for punishment either because that would mean telling her your secret. It's pretty obvious that she doesn't know that these are here what with you two sneaking about like this."_

"_Are you blackmailing us?" Noin asked._

_Audrey had the decency to look shocked. "No!" She said. "I was actually about to beg you to let me in on whatever you're doing. It's really boring here, and I'm not really much of a pacifist."_

_Pagan stepped up to her. "Miss Harper. This is not something for children-"_

"_What do you mean? You're placing the future of the world in the hands of Relena and she isn't much older than me."_

_Noin_ _thought for a second. Some of the most amazing people she knew were nothing but kids. She was torn between saying yes and wanting to shelter this girl from the world. "Say we do decide to let you 'help us.'" Noin said. "What exactly can you do?"_

_Audrey thought for a few seconds. "Nothing really, but I learn fast."_

"_And if we say no?"_

"_I'll just sit down here until you change your mind."_

_Noin_ _smiled slightly. She liked this girl's determination. "Just don't get in the way." She said._

_Pagan looked shocked for a moment, but then deciding that he trusted Noin's judgment, gave Audrey a smile. Noin turned and started walking towards 01. Pagan and Audrey followed. _

"_This is 01." Noin said. "I pulled it out of the ocean with the help of an ally a few days ago. I am pretty certain that it is in near perfect working order, but I haven't run a diagnostic on it yet."_

_Audrey and Pagan hovered beside Noin as she turned on a computer station. Noin began pointing out parts of the suit that she was worried about. She told Audrey to meet her in the basement after school the next day, and then, the three went back upstairs to get some sleep. _

* * *

"She taught me the ins and outs of repairing mobile suits although she never actually let me touch one. I was no where near skilled enough to actually work on one, but Noin thought I had good potential and that I would make a good engineer given a little time. 

"Then the war reached all the way up to the borders of the country, and they had to actually use the suits. The real fight was in space though. Noin was leaving to go to the main battlefield I begged her to let me come. She let me. I started off as an assistant doing technical work with the mobile suits and spacecraft, but they had better technicians and a shortage in doctors, so I ended up being a nurse instead."

"Did you see a gundam?" Jeanne asked bubbling with excitement.

Audrey nodded.

Jeanne's jaw dropped, and Audrey waited a few moments for her to recover. "Did you meet the pilots?"

Audrey paused. Jeanne was her best friend, and she was sure that she wouldn't tell anyone about their conversation—she never had. Still, it didn't seem right to tell her about Heero. "I might have talked to one once or twice." It wasn't a lie. Heero never talked.

"You lie!" Jeanne squealed.

"No I'm not!" Audrey protested good-naturedly. "I really did."

"Was he handsome?"

Audrey wiggled her hand in a "kind of" fashion. She did think that Heero was good looking, but she would never admit it out loud.

Jeanne stood and brushed her skirt to get the wrinkles out. "I'd better get back to work." She said sadly.

Audrey nodded and stood as well. "Never tell." She said, holding out her hand.

Jeanne grasped it and then placed her other hand on top. Audrey followed her motion to complete their special handshake—one that they'd used in promises since Audrey was a child. "Never." Jeanne promised, and then left.

Audrey just stood and stared at the door. It was almost time for dinner, and she supposed that she should be making her way to the dining room. She figured that she should probably get Heero as well. No one had actually shown him where any of the rooms were.

* * *

Only two hours after the last interruption, there was another knock on the door. Heero growled quietly, but didn't look up from his computer screen, upon hearing the door open. 

"Why aren't you ready?" A semi-frantic voice squealed. Audrey. "Dinner is in ten minutes!"

"I'm not going." He stated simply without even looking at her.

"NO!" She nearly screamed before quieting her voice a little. "You _can't_ not go! Not only would my father think that you were insulting him, but that would leave me alone with them!"

Heero just continued to stare at his computer screen.

"Come on!" She ran to his closet before pulling out one of the new suits that her kind relatives had supplied him. "Hurry! Put this on!" When Heero didn't move, she slapped her hands to her face and shook her head. "Please!" She wasn't too proud to beg.

"I didn't come here to have dinner parties with your estranged relatives. You were supposed to get money, and then we were supposed to leave to 'help those who were hurt by the war.'" He said finally looking at her. He offhandedly noticed that she looked like a girl in her shin-length yellow dress—especially so, since she had her hair down.

"Yeah. I know." She said in frustration. "But you can't just _talk_ sense into these people. They're animals; they don't understand that. You have to scratch their ears and rub their bellies before they decide to listen to anything you have to say."

Heero was not amused. If anything, he was even more irritated. "How long will it take?" He asked.

Audrey shrugged. "Hopefully not long."

"How long?" He demanded.

"A few days maybe." She said. "Probably a week at the most." She held out the suit to him. "But until then we have to play nice and not try to get our fingers bitten."

"I'm not going to dinner." Heero said again.

"Did you not hear anything I just said?"

Heero proceeded to ignore her.

Audrey growled in frustration before throwing the suit onto his bed and storming out of his room.

Heero had no reaction at all. He was busy wondering how exactly he had gotten into the situation. He hadn't really known the girl at all, and he'd just left with her. Of course, he went to try to make up for the damages he'd caused—he'd done the same thing with Trowa after he'd killed the Alliance's pacifists. He just didn't know if going with her was the right decision.

She was inexperienced and completely useless in a battle—although the war was technically over, there was still bound to be trouble. Trouble seemed to follow him around. She couldn't even complete the simple task of getting money from her own father. If it hadn't been for the money issue, he would have gone off on his own.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Maybe he'd been wrong after all.

* * *

Whoo! Okay. This is the start of a much longer story. Audrey is my OC. Tell me what you think of her. Constructive input is always welcome, but please no flames. This is my first GW fic, so please be gentle. 


	2. The Parent People

Chapter 2- The Parent People

"Young lady!" Gregory, Audrey's father, said in a mixture of irritation and outright anger. "You will _stop_ slamming your silverware on the table! While you are living in this house you will behave as though you have some sense and manners."

"I don't know why you're angry at _us._" Lillian said. "You were the one that shamed us running off like that. You should be grateful that we're feeding you at all."

"What! You were forcing me to marry a guy twice my age! How does that not give me the right to be angry at you?" Audrey said.

"Are you forgetting that we raised you and provided for you for almost your entire life?" Gregory said. "And we were not _forcing_ you to do anything. You could have said 'no.'"

_And make you mad at me?_ Audrey thought. "How about we call a truce." Audrey suggested. "I will forget about the whole forced marriage thing, and you forget about me running away. There is no sense in us dwelling on this. I'm not marrying him, so there is no reason for me to be mad. And I am here, so there is no sense in you being mad at me for running away."

"It doesn't work like that." Gregory said. "I will be willing to forgive you, if you apologize nicely to Eric Cetiret and clear our name in this whole matter. I don't know how you are going to gain this family's prestige back, but you had better think of something."

Audrey gaped at him. "But…but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done this. And besides, I left to help bring about peace."

Gregory and Lillian stared at her. Her father leaned back and sent her a level look. "Just where, exactly, have you been?" He asked.

Audrey gulped. She considered coming up with a fanciful lie, but she'd never been a very good liar. Finally, she looked down at the table. "I went into space." She said.

Lillian gasped, and Gregory sat up straighter. "What were you doing in space? It is dangerous there! There was a war going on!"

"I know." Audrey said hoping that they would leave it at that.

They didn't. "So you just suddenly fancied taking a trip to space."

Audrey glanced up to meet her father's gaze momentarily, before looking down again. "I…I joined the resistance."

Gregory slammed his hand onto the table, and Lillian gasped in horror. "YOU DID WHAT?!"

* * *

_YOU DID WHAT?! _

Gregory's voice reached all the way up to Heero's room. He looked up from his computer wondering if he should go downstairs to try to help her. He stared at the suit that was still lying on his bed for a few seconds before deciding that there was nothing he could do.

"I am not involved." He said before continuing what he was doing.

* * *

"I didn't fight!" Audrey said. "I was a medic!"

Gregory calmed down slightly although he was still visibly fuming. Lillian managed to calm herself down a bit. Even though she was angry at Audrey's foolish actions, Audrey was still her daughter.

"Audrey," Lillian said, her voice not raised, but slightly shaking. "Why would you leave school to go…to go…"

Audrey stared at her mother as she trailed off. "I didn't believe in what Relena was teaching…at least not her methods. Everyone wanted peace, but she wanted everyone to just stop what they were doing. You can't just stop fighting in the middle of a war. It would have only caused more problems. The colonies were being fooled by oppressive governments, and all the goals that people had been losing their lives for would have just been abandoned. Yes wars are bad, but sometimes negotiations aren't enough."

Her parents were both silent, so she continued. "I left to join the cause because I wanted to help bring about the peace that everyone was searching for. How can I claim to deserve something if I'm not willing put forth an effort to achieve it. I didn't fight, because between you and me, I would have made a crappy soldier."

Lillian and Gregory both gave her a stern look at her questionable language.

"Instead, I chose to support those who could fight in every way I was able. I am not a diplomat, nor do I intend to be, I'm sorry to say. I will never be powerful or influential, but sometimes, you need people on the sidelines to help things along. I worked as a nurse to help people injured in the war, and I want to continue to help those who have been hurt by it. That's why I came here. I know I've been ungrateful to you, but I really want to help those who were affected by the fighting. I don't know how to get your prestige back, and I can honestly say that that's the last thing I'm worried about right now. So many people are hurting and homeless, and yet we sit here in nothing but luxury. I'm sorry if I disappointed you. All I ask for is a little money to help me get started towards this goal; after that, you can forget that I ever existed." Audrey stared at her hands which were clutched in her lap while working to fight back tears.

Both of her parents stared at her in shock.

"Dear, we could never just forget about you." Lillian got out of her chair and put an arm around Audrey's shoulders. She sent a look to Gregory that told him to come over as well. "You're our only little girl. No matter what you do, we can never change that."

"Yes." Gregory said taking Audrey's hand and gently pulling her to stand. He raised her chin and felt his anger melt at the sight of tears on her face. He gently wiped them away. "I am still angry at you for not telling me where you went, but I do realize that what you did, no matter how foolish, was for a noble cause. I also think that what you are planning to do is also noble. But is this what you really want? What you're thinking of doing will be difficult. Wouldn't you prefer to try to go back to school?"

Audrey shook her head. "This is what I want, dad. It's the right thing for me to do."

He pulled her in for a hug. "Then we will support you."

Lillian joined their hug. After a few moments the three sat down to finish their dinner.

* * *

Heero awoke the next morning at the crack of dawn. After putting on one of his new outfits, he slipped downstairs quietly to try to find the kitchen. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. When he reached the edge of the stairs, he ran into the maid who'd let them in the day before.

"Good morning, monsieur." She said. "I bet you're hungry since you skipped dinner last night."

Heero only nodded.

"Well come on then." She led him into the dining room and sat him at the table. "I'll have the chef fix you up something. What would you like?"

Heero just shrugged.

"Pancakes? Eggs? Waffles? Bacon?"

He shrugged again.

Jeanne chuckled. "Well, I'll just tell her to make you something special then." She said and quickly left.

Heero stayed sitting for a few seconds before he got up to look around. He was looking at some pictures sitting on a table near the window when he heard a noise behind them. He turned just in time to see Gregory walk into the dining room. He was wearing a suit and was adjusting his tie as he came in. Lillian was a step behind him, fully dressed as well. The both paused when they saw Heero, and Heero realized just how awkward the situation was. He didn't really know how to interact with these people.

Gregory looked as though he were about to say something, but Lillian stepped in front of him. "Good morning." She said.

Heero figured that since he was in these people's house, eating their food, and possibly taking a lot of their money, he'd attempt to hold a polite conversation. "Good morning." He said.

"We didn't catch your name yesterday." Gregory said sitting at the head of the table and unfolding a newspaper.

"My name is Heero Yuy." He said. "It's a pleasure."

Gregory looked at him oddly. The name apparently shocked him. "Are you of relation to the assassinated colony leader Heero Yuy?" He asked.

Heero shook his head no. "I was named in his honor. That's all." Heero said simply.

Gregory gave him another odd look and then began to read his paper. Lillian sat at the other end of the table and gave him a small smile. "We're terribly sorry about our behavior yesterday." She apologized. Heero wondered if this was the same woman that snootily led them to their rooms the day before. "We were just shocked to see our daughter again so suddenly."

Heero remained silent. He didn't know if he was supposed to respond. The awkward silence stretched on until the food was brought in. Heero watched the two both place napkins on their laps and did the same.

"Is Audrey not awake yet?" Gregory asked finally putting the paper down and picking up a fork. "She's wasting the day away. Doesn't she want breakfast?"

"It's hardly six thirty dear." Lillian said. "And she just got back. She's probably tired."

"She didn't look tired yesterday." He stated and then noticed Jeanne. "Jeanne. Would you go fetch Audrey for breakfast?"

"Of course sir." Jeanne said before walking away.

Gregory turned to Heero with a calculating look on his face. Heero noticed the look and stopped eating. He looked expectantly to Gregory.

"So, Mr. Yuy," Gregory leaned back in his chair. "How exactly do you know my daughter and why is it that you are traveling with her?"

Lillian sent Gregory a disbelieving/scolding look, but Gregory's attention was focused on Heero.

Heero stared at Gregory for a few seconds. He supposed that he couldn't blame the guy for worrying about his daughter, but the questions were starting to irritate him. "She tended to my injuries after a battle." Heero said.

"You're a little young to be a soldier, and you don't look much like one either." Gregory stated. "How did your parents ever approve of such a thing?"

"I don't have parents." Heero stated.

"Gregory!" Lillian scolded before turning to Heero in sympathy. "You poor thing."

Heero just shrugged before changing the subject. "I bumped into Audrey when she was leaving the space colony and she told me that she was going to earth to repair the damage brought on by the war. I'd wanted to do the same thing myself, so I joined her."

Gregory just grunted and turned back to her food.

"Well I think it's a good thing that you're joining her." Lillian said once she convinced herself that the two weren't having some sort of fling. "Since her heart is so set on it, it's a good idea if she has someone around to help her and protect her."

"That had better be all he does." Gregory fixed Heero with a stern look.

"All _who_ does?" Audrey tiredly dragged herself into the dining room and plopped into a chair. She was dressed, but it was obvious that she had just woken up.

"Nothing dear, but it's good to see you awake."

"Wish I shared the sentiment." Audrey mumbled propping an elbow on the table and placing her chin in her hand. "Pancakes and bacon please." She told the chef.

"Elbows off the table, Audrey." Lillian said, and Audrey complied lazily.

Heero sat, silently observing and trying not to be noticed. It seemed that Gregory was more than displeased at his very presence, and that he was taking every chance he had to make him uncomfortable.

He watched as Audrey's mother struck up a conversation. "I guess we'll invite the Cetirets over for dinner."

"Can't we just forget about that?" Audrey asked cutting a slice of pancake and shoveling it into her mouth.

"You have to officially break off your engagement." Gregory said.

Audrey started choking, alarming both of her parents.

"Drink something dear." Lillian said although Audrey had already grabbed her juice.

Once she was breathing normally again, she asked. "Wha…I thought the whole…me disappearing thing pretty much did the engagement in."

"Regardless." Lillian said. "You still owe him an apology."

"It was part of our deal, Audrey." Gregory fixed her a look.

"Deal? I don't remember any deal."

Gregory continued. "You are to apologize to the Cetirets and somehow clear our name, and we will support you in your venture."

Audrey looked at him. "I thought we agreed that your reputation wasn't important."

Gregory looked shocked. "When did we agree on that?"

"When we were talking about the suffering homeless people." She said. "Remember them?"

"I do remember something about that." Lillian said, looking over at Gregory. "And our reputation isn't damaged that much anyway. I think a simple apology will do."

Audrey sighed, and deciding not to push her luck, continued to eat silently.

* * *

The next few days passed slowly. Heero kept to his room most of the time, except for meal times. Gregory was not making an attempt to warm up to him, and would make some kind of snide remark every chance he got. It was all Audrey and Lillian could do to keep Gregory from tormenting him during breakfast and supper.

Lunch was a bit better, because Gregory was usually at a meeting, and Lillian generally had lunch with friends.

During his stay, Heero had been keeping tabs on certain peoples' movements, and searching for others. He didn't worry much about the other gundam pilots; he figured they could take care of themselves.

His main concern was the safety of Relena Peacecraft. Even before the war had ended, he had known that she was crucial to reestablishing peace in the post-war world. The destruction of such a powerful symbol of peace would have lasting side effects—probably effects similar to those brought about by the assassination of the original Heero Yuy. The last thing the Earth Sphere needed was another war, and it certainly didn't need any more gundams.

He had briefly considered protecting her himself, but it seemed that Noin and Lady Une had the same idea. He figured that they were more than capable of handling that job.

Relena, herself, hadn't wasted any time in working to create a new peaceful world. She was already meeting with dignitaries to discuss disarmament, and was trying to mediate relations between formerly hostile organizations.

Another subject that had his attention was the whereabouts of Miliardo Peacecraft. Heero refused to believe that he was dead, although there was no evidence to suggest otherwise. Heero knew that Miliardo operated on his own motives—much like the other gundam pilots had. He also knew, however, that Miliardo's motives often had faulty or harmful logic. Any actions made in the Peacecrafts' name would be a reflection on Relena, and Heero could not allow the hope for peace in the world to be discredited.

As a side note, Noin had sent him an email and offered to keep his gundam with her under international sanction. It would be stored in a former alliance base in northern Africa. He had agreed to the idea. A gundam was not the kind of thing you want to drag around—especially when you're trying to help people cope with the losses that mobile suits undoubtedly caused. He had nowhere to put the gundam himself besides sinking it an ocean, and doing that would cause him tons of trouble if he ever needed it again.

* * *

Four days after they'd arrived at the Harper residence, Eric Cetiret, Audrey's ex-fiancé, came over for dinner. Heero had taken one look at the man and had decided to skip dinner. It wasn't that Heero had felt threatened by him. He just figured that having a boy close to her age currently living with her would make the engagement-breaking a bit more hazardous. There were too many implications. Heero stayed up in his room to avoid awkward questions and confrontations. He didn't want to be stuck in this place any longer than he had to be. He was hungry, but he'd deal with it.

He looked around his room in irritation. This wasn't how this was supposed to be going. He was supposed to be helping those hurt by the war, not sitting in the lap of luxury.

He was currently reading reports of the destruction caused in various places around Europe. There was one place he wanted to go in particular—a town that he had helped to destroy. He felt ashamed just thinking about his actions and how he had disregarded Quatre's warning. The only thing he'd been able to think about was retaliating against Romefeller for turning the colonies against the gundams. He hadn't bothered to check to see if the town that he'd volunteered to fight in had been evacuated. It hadn't, and because of that, he nearly killed hundreds of innocent civilians.

Heero looked up from his computer trying to shake the memory away.

Glancing out of the window, he noticed Audrey and Eric standing in the back yard. Eric was probably in his late twenties. He was not unattractive, but he had a calm almost shy look about him.

The sunset was reflecting off of the fountain and making Audrey look almost radiant. Heero tore his eyes away quickly. Neither she, nor her personal life were any of his concern, and he certainly didn't need any distractions from his mission.

With a grunt of irritation at his entire current predicament, he turned back to his work.

* * *

The next morning, they were finally ready to go. Audrey's parents drove them to the airport where Audrey and her family all said tearful—and in her parents' cases, reluctant—goodbyes. Heero had attempted to remain unnoticed, but Lillian had given him a goodbye hug as well. He was awkward and unsure of what to do, so he just stood stiffly and blushed.

Gregory gave them a credit card with a stiff warning to use it responsibly, and gave Heero an extra warning glare.

Heero thanked them politely for their help and generosity, and he and Audrey got on the plane.

"So where to?" Audrey asked once they were airborne.

"There's a small town near the Sanc Kingdom that was nearly completely demolished in a battle. The town had been occupied by troops after the split, and as far as I know they were abusive to the citizens there. Romefeller had felt threatened by the Sanc Kingdom and felt bitter at those countries that allied with them. Many citizens left during the occupation, and they are returning now to homes that no longer exist."

Audrey would have commented, but she had a suspicion that the town had a personal significance to Heero. She didn't know how their partnership would be, but for the moment, they were two teenagers who hardly knew each other and had no line of communication to fill that information void. She didn't even know if they'd stay together long. Their personalities didn't exactly mix. He was almost constantly silent, and she was almost constantly talking. That wouldn't be a problem, but she was pretty sure that she irritated him.

For the first time, she began to doubt her decision. She may have been better off staying home with Eric. At least then, she was sure of her future. She would be a trophy wife who had luncheons and planned banquets for the rest of her life.

That plan was thrown out the window, though.

She'd felt relieved to be rid of the engagement at the time.

Although she'd been relieved at first to be rid of her engagement, now, she wasn't so sure. She'd given up wealth and a safe existence to go parading around with an unpredictable solitary boy who she knew nothing about.

She looked over at him. He was leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed and arms crossed. He didn't look dangerous at all, but she knew otherwise. She'd seen the things that he could do, and she knew that if she had any sense, she would want nothing to do with him. For some reason though, her heart reached out to him. He was all alone, and, according to the few rumors she'd heard, had no experience at living a real life.

She hadn't believed the rumors since she'd seen him for herself. When she'd first seen him on the street, she'd assumed that he had adapted to civilian life, and was doing well. His closed off behavior and his odd reactions to even the smallest displays of affection had convinced her that he needed more help than she'd realized.

Her mission was to help those who were hurt by the war, and she was almost certain that the person who was hurt the worst by the war was sitting right on side of her.


	3. I Am a Soldier

Chapter 3- I Am a Soldier

Arriving in the town Heero remembered so well, he could think of nothing more than the fact that he had helped to destroy it.

The roads were too demolished to drive on. Many houses were nothing more than piles of rocks and wood. The only thing that was still intact in most places was the plumbing. Some houses had a few walls standing. Men and a few women were walking to and fro with tools and lumber rebuilding the houses. Old men and women were sitting outside selling things out of crates. Old women were cooking outside over homemade ovens. Younger women and children old enough to work were working in the fields. Younger children wearing old torn clothes were playing in the dirt in the streets.

Audrey gaped at the devastation as the two walked down the street. Heero looked around as well, but he was searching for something in particular. He remembered many of the buildings from when he had been in the town himself, and could also remember how they had been destroyed. More often than not, he had been involved in the destruction.

He stopped when he spotted what he'd been looking for. There was a large area with unused lumber, pipes, bricks, and anything else needed to rebuild a town. There weren't enough supplies to rebuild the entire town, but there appeared to be enough for a few houses.

Heero walked into the yard with Audrey following close behind. He spotted a man that looked to be in charge and strode towards him.

The man looked down at the two teenagers in curiosity. "Need a hand?" Heero asked.

The man laughed. "We need lots of 'em." He said. "We can't pay you though."

"We don't want your money." Heero assured him.

"You know how to work with tools boy?" Heero nodded, and the man turned to Audrey. "What about you?"

She nodded too.

"Okay." The man said. "My name is Christopher." He extended his hand to Heero.

"I'm Heero Yuy." He accepted the hand awkwardly.

Audrey shook his hand as well. "I'm Audrey Harper."

The man looked between the two curiously, but didn't ask their relationship. He just told them to follow. The three walked a short ways until they got to one of the construction sites. Christopher said a few short words to another man who nodded and motioned to a section of the house. Christopher came back to them. "Are either of you afraid of heights?"

Both of them shook their heads no.

"And you have good balance?"

They nodded.

"Good. You both look pretty light. We aren't a very wealthy town, and we don't have many scaffolds or heavy equipment. We're rebuilding the biggest houses and the ones still partially intact first so we can house more people sooner. This one is four stories tall, and we're reconstructing the frame in the upper levels. That's where you two will be. Just climb up there any way you can. You can check in with him if you have any questions. His name is James." He indicated the man he had talked to before. He grabbed two hammers and two packs of nails and handed one to each of them before walking away.

Heero immediately set off with single minded determination toward the house, and Audrey followed a step behind. Heero found a window ledge and hoisted himself onto the second floor. Audrey followed with a bit more difficulty. They made it to the third floor which was nothing more than a few floor beams and several vertical supports. The frame for the sides weren't put up yet, but two men were standing on the beams looking upwards. They were apparently trying to solve a problem.

Heero and Audrey walked along the beams toward them.

"Can we help out?" Heero asked.

The men turned to them and smiled. "Sure can." One said. "I'm Jeff." He was a burly man probably in his early thirties. "This is Theodore." Theodore was a bit shorter, and a bit younger as well.

"You can call me Theo." Theodore said tipping his hat. "I don't recall having ever seen you two. You're from here?"

"No" Audrey said. "I'm Audrey and this is Heero."

"You with the red cross or something? You're kinda young."

"We're just here to help out." Heero preferred to avoid personal questions.

Jeff chuckled and dropped the subject. "Well you've come to the right place."

Theo shifted his weight and pointed to a long plank of wood. "We've been trying to figure out how to get that up there." He said pointing upwards to where the vertical beams in each corner of the building and at other intervals ended ten feet above them. "We thought we were going to have to wait for tomorrow when we could get another ladder."

"But now that you're here..." Jeff smiled at the two and then looked to Theo. "You and Heero take the ladder and go down that way. Me and the little lady will tackle this end."

Theo nodded and motioned for Heero to grab the ladder. They walked down to the next vertical beam and set up the ladder.

Suddenly alone with Jeff, Audrey struggled not to feel anxious. She stared at him with a confused expression. "How are we going to get up there without a ladder?" She asked.

Jeff smiled slyly and tucked one end of the beam under his arm. He put one foot on the beam she was standing on and one on the beam perpendicular to it and crouched down. "Climb on little lady."

"Huh?"

"Sit on my shoulders."

Audrey looked at him like he was crazy, but then realized that he was serious. She gulped and did as she was told. Jeff stood up and handed her the end of the plank. She grimaced when she felt how heavy it was. "Put it on top." He instructed. She tried to reach, but found that she couldn't.

"Not to worry." Jeff said sliding a hand beneath each of her feet. "Stand up. Use the corner beam for balance. Audrey slowly and shakily stood and put the beam in its proper place. She adjusted it until it was perfectly aligned and then reached for her hammer.

"Relax." Jeff said. "I'm not going to drop you. Just put a few nails in there."

Audrey nailed quickly and carefully. She tried not to move much, because she was afraid that he Jeff would lose his balance. After three nails were effectively holding the beam in place, Jeff handed her another plank and instructed her to put it perpendicular to the one she had just put on. Both beams had been cut at a diagonal, so they fit together perfectly. Heero and Theo, who had finished with their end of the first beam shortly before her, went over to the other corner to nail in the other end of the second beam.

A half hour later, they had finished putting up the top beams and started working on the walls and floor. Audrey was thankful when she learned that she didn't have to sit on Jeff's shoulders anymore.

While Jeff and Audrey filled in the beams for the floor, Heero and Theo took the ladder and started filling in the frame of the walls. Heero had no problem standing on an old shaky ladder twenty five feet off of the ground. He'd never been afraid of heights, nor had he ever been afraid to die. He'd survived worse than a little fall like that. He wasn't planning on falling though. He still had work to do, and it would take a lot before he would be satisfied with his repentance.

Construction stopped at dusk. Heero and Audrey were both sweaty and tired, but there was nowhere for them to bathe so they ended up just washing up with a faucet. They slept outside on the dirt like many of the other townspeople with their bags as pillows and jackets as blankets. Neither complained.

* * *

They continued their same routine for the next week. They awoke before dawn and ate a small breakfast that they bought from one of the village venders. By dawn they were already working. They braked for a small lunch that usually consisted of an apple and a piece of bread (for which they intentionally overpaid), and then continued working until nightfall.

On their eighth night there, it stormed. There wasn't any shelter that wasn't already filled with people, so the people who were outside huddled against buildings under the overhangs trying to keep dry.

The storm was over by morning, but everything was muddy and slippery. There were stairs leading from the first to the second story and from the second to the third, so climbing up wasn't hazardous. Nevertheless, a few hours after they started working, there was a commotion down below.

"What happened?" Jeff called over to Theo and Heero.

"Somebody fell." Theo called back.

Jeff stood from where he had been hammering nails into the floor and strode toward the stairs. The other three hesitated for a moment but then followed him.

Heero and Audrey continued to follow Jeff as he muscled his way through the crowd.

A man was sitting on the ground clutching his arm. The arm was hanging limp and bleeding profusely while the man gasped in pain.

"Did anyone call a doctor?" Jeff asked as he crouched beside the man.

Another man spoke up. "The nearest doctor is in the next town." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "The way he's bleeding, he won't make it."

Audrey spoke up. "Is there a first aid kit anywhere and a bowl of water and a towel?" She asked.

Jeff turned to look at her, glaring at the interruption. She faltered and took a step back stuttering. "I…I'm a trained nurse. I could help."

Jeff's glare switched to a shocked look, and he quickly yelled. "Someone bring a first aid kit!"

A few seconds later, everything she asked for was shoved into her hands. Audrey crouched down beside the man and opened the kit. There was a bottle of antiseptic, some popsicle sticks, some gauze and bandages, a pair of rubber gloves, and thankfully a needle and some thread.

All of the men looked on silently as she got to work.

Audrey gently pried the man's hand away from his arm. The bone in his upper arm was completely broken and one end had punctured the skin. Audrey picked up one of the popsicle sticks and shoved it between the man's molars. "Here. Bite on this. This is gonna hurt." With a sudden movement, she set the bone back into its place. The man hissed in pain. "Can someone hold this?" She asked.

She wasn't surprised to see Heero quickly kneel down and hold the arm in place. Audrey took the wet towel and started wiping the blood away from the wound. She slipped the plastic gloves on and then picked up the needle and thread.

"You severed an artery." She told the man as she searched for the two ends of the artery. "That's why it's bleeding so much." Heero took his cue and pinched the artery down on both sides with the hand he wasn't using to support the arm to stop it from bleeding. Audrey quickly stitched it together. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the bleeding slowed to a trickle.

Suddenly a woman ran up frantically. She crouched down on the other side of the man despite the other men's protests. The woman started fretting over the man, but thankfully she stayed out of the working pair's way.

Not ten minutes after the man had fallen, the man's arm was stitched closed and set in a brace that Heero had made from the popsicle sticks. Audrey wrapped the wound while Heero made a makeshift sling.

The man thanked the two heartily and the woman, who appeared to be his wife, gave them tearful hugs.

Heero looked uncomfortable with the hug, and just stood there blushing slightly.

"No problem." Audrey said and began picking up the remaining supplies for later use.

Jeff gave them both cheerful pats on the back as the man was helped to his makeshift home. "You two are just full of surprises. Where'd you learn to do that?" He said.

They both shrugged (Audrey, with an embarrassed smile) and started making their way back towards the building. There was still a half a day left of work, and Audrey and Jeff had planned to seal up the entire floor by the end of the day. Audrey was determined to finish it, because it was supposed to rain again that night, and the floor of the third story provided a roof for the entire second story. That translated to a place for her and at least thirty other people to sleep.

Heero just returned with single minded determination to his mission.

That night, the wife of the man who had fallen, brought them a cake. Audrey was almost moved to tears by the effort the woman had gone through to acquire the ingredients for it. She knew that the people in the town were struggling with money and that it was the most they could do to feed themselves three times a day.

They politely refused to accept the cake, but after a few minutes of coaxing, they were convinced to take half of it. They sent the other half back with the woman to eat with her family. They both ate a small piece themselves and then shared the rest with the children who were sleeping in the second floor of the building with them.

It was the first time most of these children had had cake since they'd lost their homes.

* * *

Because there was no electricity in the town, Heero had no idea what was going on in the world. His laptop battery had run out long ago, and even when it had been charged, the internet wasn't every good.

He occasionally gleaned a few bits of information off of the men who traveled to neighboring towns to sell things. Even that was not much. Nothing major was happening in the Earth Sphere. There was no mention of Miliardo Peacecraft. Relena Peacecraft was still negotiating, and the nations were slowly picking themselves up and working together. There had been no outbreaks of violence, and it seemed as though no new factions dissatisfied with the peace had formed.

It was a small reassurance to Heero, but he still wondered if it was possible to have a complete, lasting peace.

He wished that he wasn't so closed off from events in the world. He was used to knowing exactly what was going on, and was usually somehow in the middle of major events. It was somewhat disorienting to only have vague information about the state of the Earth Sphere and to be so far away from his gundam that if something happened, he could do nothing about it.

* * *

After Heero and Audrey had given them cake, the children had taken a strong liking to them. They would want to play with him any chance they got. Heero was at a loss for what to do. He had never played with children in his life—not even when he was a child.

When they had breaks, the children would try to drag the two of them off to play games. Many of these times, Heero had just sat and watched as Audrey had made some sort of jump rope out of unused rope or had drawn a hopscotch on the cement with broken bricks. Audrey also taught many of the little girls to make dolls from corn husks.

He had been dragged into these games a few times, but he was too tall for the jump rope, and he couldn't understand the concept of playing with dolls. He did enjoy the hopscotch from time to time, but it got old when kids tried to hang on his arms and legs while he hopped.

That didn't deter some of the children. Many of the boys, usually those around six or seven years old, liked to play swordfight with him. Their swords were scraps wood that their fathers had carved for them. Heero didn't have his own sword, so he usually had to just dodge. Heero tried to avoid playing sword fight, because he couldn't defend himself without hurting one of the kids. The boys' mothers didn't care much for the game either because too many boys came home with bruises. Heero was thankful when their swords were taken away.

As hard as he tried to fight it, the longer he stayed, the antsier he got. It didn't help that his partner was completely unreliable and undisciplined. Two weeks after they arrived at the town, Audrey started slipping away after dinner. Heero woke up a few mornings, and she was absent as well. She was always on time for work, and never lost attention. Heero had no idea where she was going when she went missing, but he figured that it was none of his business.

He started getting suspicious, though, when showed up to work with a large bandage on her hand. He didn't say anything, but he was starting to wonder where she went. Finally, he caught her slipping out of the shelter in the middle of the night. He debated for a few seconds whether or not to follow her and then slipped out after her. He wanted to know was she was doing. If it was just some tryst, then he really didn't care, but if she was some kind of agent sent to track him, he wanted to know about it.

He stalked her to the supply yard and watched as she went into the tool shed. His curiosity was peaked when he saw her come out with a tool belt full of wrenches, a hammer, and a blowtorch. He waited in the shadows for her to come out.

"Where are you going?" He asked as she walked out of the supply yard.

She jumped and whipped around clutching the blowtorch to her chest. When she saw it was just him, she relaxed. She smiled slyly. "Come and see." She told him and started heading off toward the edge of the town.

Confused by her strange behavior, Heero tailed after her. With only the moon to provide any light, she led him into the part of town that was completely demolished by the battle. Parts of mobile suits were still lying on the ground. Heero had avoided this area since he'd gotten to the town. He didn't know why, but now he felt kind of silly.

She continued walking, carefully picking around the scraps. Finally she stopped with a "Voila!"

Heero stepped beside her and stared at what she was showing him. Slowly, a smile crept onto his mouth. _Why didn't I think of this? _

Sitting before them was a jeep.

"I think it belonged to one of the factions that fought here. It was pretty banged up, but not irreparable. I asked Christopher if he wanted it, and he said that if I could fix it, I could keep it."

"This is where you've been coming?" Heero ran his hand over the jeep's dented hood and then popped it open.

"Yep." Audrey said. "I figured that we weren't going to stay here forever, and we can't hitchhike everywhere. So when I found this jeep, I decided to fix it up."

Heero examined the engine, noting that it looked to be in working order. "Where'd you get the parts?"

"There are a few wrecked tanks down that way. I got the parts for the engine from them. I don't know what we're going to do about the windows. We might be able to salvage some glass from the computers in these suits."

Heero nodded. "Does it run?"

"The battery's dead." She said. "I thought maybe I could charge it up using one of these mobile suits, but I don't know how to work them."

Heero walked a circle around the jeep. The front windshield and the one on the driver's side were smashed out. It was obvious that the jeep had probably been thrown over by an explosion by the way the sides were dented up and the metal supporting the top bended. The front showed signs of a wreck as well, but Audrey had straightened out most of the dents before she started repairing the engine.

He leaned through the window to find that the inside was surprisingly intact, aside from a little rain damage to the leather seats and the siding for the driver's door. The siding had been pulled off, probably by Audrey. It was sitting on the passenger's seat. The shattered glass from the window had been carefully removed—or perhaps not so carefully. Heero noticed a few drops of blood on the floor. He figured that Audrey had probably cut her hand while removing the glass.

Heero tugged on the door but found that it was stuck. He stepped back and looked around. Audrey just watched him as he walked away to survey the destroyed mobile suits.

Figuring that he was just being weird, she crawled through the jeep's window and pulled a flashlight out of the glove compartment. Switching it on, she started knocking the dents out of the driver's door.

A few minutes later, Heero returned. "I found one that works." He said opening the hood again. "I can go charge the battery."

Audrey crawled out of the window and searched her belt for the right size wrench. She found it and handed it to Heero. He quickly removed the battery and headed off again. Audrey followed him curiously. He stopped in front of one of the mobile suits. It was missing its head and the right arm and leg. He nimbly climbed up and disappeared. A second later, a whirring was heard and the mobile suit came to life. Audrey recovered from her initial shock and cautiously climbed up as well. She quickly discovered that it wasn't as easy as Heero had made it look.

She found Heero sitting in the cockpit. Since the mobile suit was lying down, the cockpit was turned as well. The battery was left sitting beside the cockpit's entrance.

Audrey watched curiously as Heero typed commands with practiced ease and then pulled himself up to squat on the back of the seat. He reached beneath the computer and pulled two wires free.

Heero looked up and noticed her watching him. "Hand me the battery." He ordered.

Audrey passed it down to him.

"Your gloves too." Audrey pulled her gloves off and handed them down to him.

Heero slipped them on and twisted the sparking wires into place on the battery. He turned and typed something into the computer again and then pulled himself out. He didn't say a word to Audrey as he strode back to the jeep. The feeling of being inside of a mobile suit again left him a little disoriented. It hadn't been that long since the war ended, but it felt like forever.

Mobile suits were familiar to him. This new world with families, laughter, and friends wasn't. The other gundam pilots were his friends, he supposed, but they had only interacted with ever-present danger and responsibility looming over their heads.

Although he tried his hardest to interact with normal people, he didn't know if he would ever be as comfortable around them as he was in mobile suits. He didn't like the thought.

"You okay?" Heero turned at the sound of Audrey's voice. He had completely zoned out and hadn't noticed her approach.

He nodded and returned her gloves. He assumed that the conversation was over, but he was wrong.

"You don't look okay." She studied his face. "Sorry."

Heero blinked. "For what?"

She shrugged. "For whatever is bothering you. You were fine a few minutes ago, and now you look upset…or maybe haunted. If it's something I did, then I'm sorry."

Heero shook his head. "It's not you." He said. His gaze scanned the destruction around them.

"You fought in the battle here didn't you?"

Heero looked back at her, shock clearly written on his face.

Audrey fidgeted and then looked down. She was torn between curiosity and fear that she would hurt him. "I…I mean I thought you did. That's why you wanted to come here. You think that it's your fault that these people lost their homes."

Heero didn't answer. He didn't know how to. He just turned and started heading back into the village.

He didn't get far before Audrey spoke again. "It's not." It was almost too soft for him to hear. "You shouldn't blame yourself."

Heero stopped but didn't turn. "What do you know?"

"Why don't you explain it to me then?"

Heero glared at her over his shoulder before turning and starting toward the town again.

"It's not your fault, Heero! When are you going to understand that?" Audrey yelled to his retreating form. "You did what you thought was right, and because of that, the world is at peace! The war is over! Accept it! You can't be a soldier forever."

Heero whipped around in a flash, and in a few short strides was inches away from her.

"I. Am. A soldier." He said without emotion. "That is all I have ever been, and it's all I know how to be. I made mistakes during the war, and now it is my duty to make up for them. I'm sorry if you disapprove."

The chill in his eyes scared Audrey close to tears. Somehow, she managed to speak. "No one's perfect, Heero. That's what makes us human. Being a soldier doesn't make you any less human."

Heero stared at her. His anger was slowly replaced by tiredness. "This was a bad idea." He mumbled.

"What?"

"We hardly know each other. There's no way that we can work together."

Audrey looked at him sadly for a second and then dropped her gaze to the ground. "I thought we did pretty well. But since you think otherwise, go. Go mope and feel guilty about every little accident and mistake you've ever made. Take the jeep with you." It was her turn to stalk moodily toward the town.

Heero looked at the jeep. "I don't want the jeep." He said.

"Neither do I." Audrey called back. "I can't drive."

Heero stared after her until she disappeared. With a sigh he leaned against the jeep and slid down to sit on the ground. His head was spinning from his recent orientation into normal society, operating a mobile suit again, and the things Audrey had said to him. He was confused and he had nothing to fall back on. War had been a more simple thing for him. He did things for the good of the people.

Now Audrey was expecting him to do things for his own sake. He didn't know if he could. As far back as he could remember, he had done things under orders. Acting on his own was new enough for him, but he had had more time to learn to live that way. If operating on his own, had always done what was best for everyone else regardless of his own welfare. This new concept of…selfishness—for he could find no other term—was odd.

He leaned his head back and stared at the sky. It would be dawn in less than an hour. He knew that he should go to sleep in preparation for his work day but he needed time to think. Audrey's words kept running through his head.

"_No one's perfect, Heero. That's what makes us human. Being a soldier doesn't make you any less human."_

"I am a soldier." He mumbled.

"_You can't be a soldier forever."_

"It's all I've ever been, and it's all I know how to be." He weighed each of his words. "But it's not what I want to be."

"_It's not your fault, Heero!"_

He looked at the destroyed mobile suits and the ruins of the village around him.

"Hn."

* * *

Thank you rukz and IAmAurora for your support and input. Feedback is always appreciated.


	4. A Lesson or Two

Chapter 4- A Lesson or Two

Heero and Audrey didn't speak to each other for the next few days. It was pretty difficult to avoid each other since they still worked together and shared the same money. Even the times they were forced to be together, they would rarely make eye contact.

Heero wasn't one to run from his problems, but he just needed time to think.

He was still angry at Audrey for butting into his life and telling _him_ how _he_ felt, but he did find a little truth in some of what she'd said. He didn't want to be a soldier all his life. That was why he'd gone along with her in the first place. That was why he wasn't running around as a rogue gundam pilot. The world was at peace, and he was coping.

At least he thought he was.

Audrey apparently thought differently. She saw his act of redemption as the act of a soldier. Heero didn't understand why. She had never been a soldier, and she was doing the same thing he was.

What was worse: she was making him doubt himself, and he was at a loss for what to do about it. There was nothing for him anywhere. He was already using his one lifeline—the only one he wanted to use anyway. Considering the fact that the only friends he had were miles away, his only other option was to fade into some obscure life all alone.

The thought of being alone forever was actually frightening. He didn't want to live forever with no friends. He'd lived that way before, and now that he'd seen the way other people lived, he wanted a life like theirs.

* * *

Although he had tried to interact with Audrey as little as possible, some things were unavoidable. 

The first few days after their "conversation," Audrey had given him his space. She seemed to be either ashamed or embarrassed for her actions, and had been just as eager to avoid him as he had been to avoid her.

However, on the fourth day, she had had enough.

Everyone had stopped for lunch, and as usual, Heero and Audrey went to one of the small venders to buy something to eat. Audrey bought a few apples and a small amount of bread and cheese. For the last few days, she had just given Heero his lunch and they both went off to eat by themselves. Today however, she just grabbed everything and walked off without a word.

Subtly, she glanced back at him to see if he was following. He was, but at a good distance behind her. She quickly surveyed his posture. His hands were shoved in his pockets in a mixture of defense and callousness. Instead of staring ahead as he usually did, his gaze was turned to the ground in front of him.

Audrey sighed lightly. She had figured that he would just get over it, but apparently he hadn't.

Audrey led him a good distance away from the areas where the other townspeople ate. She gently sat on a piece of broken cement, and motioned for Heero to sit as well. Heero glanced at her suspiciously but obliged.

The two were silent for a few seconds, and they just stared awkwardly at the ground.

Heero didn't know what Audrey had in mind by leading him here, but he was not in the mood to talk to her. Especially if she was going to pry. He was growing hungrier by the second, however. With a sighed of irritation, he glanced over at the food that was still sitting in Audrey's lap.

Audrey made no motion to give him any food, but just sent him a nervous smile. "I…" She looked down and took a breath. "I wanted to apologize. So…uhh…sorry." When he didn't answer, she glanced up at him again.

Heero stared at her. "Is that it?"

Audrey gave a guilty chuckle. "Uhh…yeah. I don't really apologize often, so I'm not very eloquent with it."

Heero rolled his eyes, but for some reason he found her statement slightly humorous.

"Soooo….Are we good?" She asked while giving him a pleading look and holding an apple out to him.

Heero shrugged. "Hn." Assuming that the conversation was over, he reached for the apple.

"What's that mean?" Audrey unconsciously pulled the apple back a bit.

Heero's hand stopped in midair. "What?" He said in irritation.

"Well I asked you a question and you said…'ung' or something. That's not even an answer. It's a…grunt."

Heero's face dropped. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "I forgive you. Can we please eat." It wasn't a question, but more of an order.

Audrey gave a guilty chuckle and handed him his food. She was halfway expecting him to take it and leave, and was slightly surprised when he just started eating. Furthermore, she was flat out shocked when he spoke.

"We should leave." He said, gazing out at the few building that had sprung up in the demolished city.

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes toward her in slight irritation. "I said-"

"I heard you." She cut him off. "I just didn't…think that there was still a 'we.' And, we've hardly been here a month and a half."

"We did what we came to do." He said.

"What? Look at the city! You can hardly call that rebuilt."

"The people have shelter. They'll be fine."

"Buh…but…"

Heero stood and tossed his apple core away. "We'll have to stay a bit longer." He said without looking at her. "At least until the jeep is fixed."

With that, he walked away. Audrey just stared after him.

* * *

The next few days passed far too quickly in Audrey's opinion, and too slowly in Heero's. Heero had been becoming slowly weary of the town. He had known from the moment he'd arrived that he wouldn't be staying long, and had thus tried not to make friends with anyone. Despite the fact that some of the townspeople had managed to grow on him, his weariness of being so cut off from civilization was overriding his remorse for having to leave. 

Heero and Audrey continued their normal routines during the day. They were on slightly better terms, and had started eating together again.

After the workday was over, the two would go out to the old battlefield to work on the jeep. Audrey worked purposely slow, much to Heero's irritation. She wanted to spend a few more days with her new friends in the town, and was usually more of a hindrance than a help to Heero.

Heero was certain that without her constant interruptions and whining, he could have finished in one night. Furthermore, Audrey had limited the time they worked to only two hours a night before she started whining about how tired she was.

* * *

Finally, the day of their departure arrived. All the people that they had been working with, took the morning off to bid them goodbye. Many of the women were holding back tears. Some of the women had worked together and made them some muffins to take on the road. Although many of the children didn't understand that they would never see their playmates again, they mimicked their parents and gave them both long hugs. 

Heero was awkwardly tense with all the hugs and kisses he was getting. He was sure that his face was as red as a tomato.

Audrey, on the other hand was tearfully embracing everyone in reach. Heero glanced over just in time to see Jeff lift her off the ground in a huge bear hug.

Finally, Heero had managed to disentangle himself from the crowd of well-wishers and was seated comfortably in the drivers seat of the jeep. A few seconds later, Audrey slid in on side of him. She was still a mess of tears.

Heero glanced at her before revving the engine. With a final wave (and a few sorrowful promises) the two drove out of the city and onto the long, deserted road.

As the city faded in the background, Audrey's quiet sniffles turned into heart-wrenching sobs. He had figured that she would stop crying after the city was out of sight, she seemed to only be getting louder. After ten minutes of listening to her, Heero was sure that he couldn't take it anymore.

He quickly wracked his brain to try to think of a way to make her stop. Comforting her was out of the question, and he was sure that yelling at her would only make it worse. Finally, he decided that he would just have to take her mind off of it.

He stopped the jeep in the middle of the road and got out. Audrey hardly registered what he was doing until he pulled her door open.

She just sniffled at him in confusion. "What?"

"Move over." He said. He was relieved to see that her confusion had quieted her sobs a little.

She scooted a little to the left, still eying him confusedly.

"To the driver's seat." Heero clarified.

"Huh?!" She stuttered while wiping her eyes and sniffling. "Buh…but I can't…can't drive."

"So you'll learn." Heero shrugged and nodded his head toward the steering wheel.

Audrey looked panicked, but scooted into the driver's seat. She gripped the steering wheel and sent him a panicked look.

"Turn the ignition." Heero said.

She slowly turned the key, and jumped when the jeep sputtered to life.

"Put it in drive."

Again she obeyed shakily.

"Now go."

The jeep lurched forward. With a small shriek, she slammed on the brake.

"Press it lightly. Relax." Heero said while snapping his seatbelt into place and giving it a tug.

"But I don't have a license."

"You'll never get one if you can't drive." He said.

She gave a plaintive whine and lightly pressed the gas. The jeep inched forward.

"You can speed up." He rolled his eyes. He'd learned to drive when he was seven, and he was sure that he didn't have such a hard time of it.

She glanced at him before pressing down harder on the gas. Her knuckles became white as her grip on the wheel instinctively tightened. Her shoulders were hunched and she was staring tensely at the road ahead.

Heero leaned back in his seat and relaxed slightly. He figured that she just needed a little time to get the hang of it. She would relax after a while. "It doesn't matter now since we're in the middle of nowhere, but use your mirrors to stay in your lane. You _can_ see out of the mirrors…right?"

She shrugged. "What am I supposed to see?"

Heero rolled his eyes and unbuckled. He leaned over as close as he could without actually touching her. Closing his right eye, he adjusted the mirrors so that she would have the right view. "There." He said looking over at her. Then he realized just how close they were to each other and he quickly retreated to his seat blushing slightly.

"Just watch you gages and stay on the road." He said tensely crossing his arms and staring out the window.

* * *

The driving lessons had had the desired effect on Audrey, and she forgot about leaving the small town. She was gradually growing more comfortable with maneuvering the vehicle, but she was still somewhat tense. 

Heero had just been watching the scenery. The fields around the town had turned into a forest shortly after they had left the town. They had driven through nothing but trees for nearly thirty minutes. The trees were thinning however, and Heero was beginning to see signs of cultivation. Within a few minutes, there was a ditch on each side of the road and rows and rows of crops as far as he could see.

He was beginning to be bored to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a high pitched ring. Heero jerked awake.

"_WHAT IS THAT_?!" Audrey shrieked. She let go of the wheel, fearing that something she did had set off an alarm.

Heero, who had whipped around to look in the back seat, noticed Audrey's state. "Don't let go of the wheel!" He exclaimed.

He jumped over to grab the wheel, but by then it was too late. The jeep rolled straight into a ditch. The wheels spun without result for a few seconds before Audrey pulled her foot off the gas.

The two sat in silence for a second, before Audrey spoke. "Well…at least the alarm stopped."

Just then the ringing started again.

Heero let out a strangled growl and reached into the back seat. He unzipped Audrey's duffel bag and pulled out her phone. He handed it to her with a glare before getting out of the jeep to inspect the damage.

Audrey stared at the phone in her hand in a mix of shock and embarrassment. "Oh. Why do I have such and obnoxious ring tone?" She whispered before answering the phone. "Hello?...MOM! Hi!...No, no. We're fine…oh well we didn't have service where we were staying, so I turned my phone off…uh huh…no I'm not coming home soon…don't start mom…uh huh…" Audrey only half listened as her mother tried to convince her to return home.

Heero came around to her window and gave her an impatient/irritated glare.

Audrey cringed nervously. "Well I'm kinda busy right now, okay mom…I'll call you tonight…okay bye." She snapped the phone closed and gave Heero a guilty look. "Umm…oops."

His glare turned a bit darker. "Put it in neutral, and turn it off." He ordered and yanked her door open.

Audrey quickly obeyed, and then sat like a child that just got caught in the cookie jar.

"Get out." His tone brooked no argument. He strode around to stand in the ditch in front of the jeep.

Audrey cautiously unbuckled and followed him. "Um. Are we going to push it?"

Heero didn't answer, but just braced himself against the jeep. Audrey mimicked his position, but, just as he started pushing, she stood back up. Heero, realizing that he was getting no help, stood back up.

"Couldn't we just put it in reverse and drive out?" Audrey asked.

Heero pointed to the tires. "You dug ruts in the ground. It's not going anywhere unless we push it. Try to lift a bit when you push."

He resumed his stance.

"You want me to lift a jeep?"

He only slightly turned his head. "Yes."

Audrey just crouched down on side of him.

"Ready?" He said. He didn't wait for a response. "Push."

Audrey tried to lift the jeep and throw her weight behind pushing it. The jeep slowly rolled back, but Audrey was certain that Heero was doing pretty much all of the work.

"Okay." Heero said once they had gotten the tires out of the ruts. "Move."

Audrey went to stand back on the street.

Heero backed off a bit, but the moment he did so, the jeep started rolling forward. He caught it quickly, and growling a bit pushed the jeep all the way back onto the road.

When he was sure it wasn't going anywhere, he backed away. His arms and legs felt a bit numb from all the effort, and he had the slight inkling that he was out of shape.

Rolling his shoulder, he motioned Audrey to get in the jeep. She obediently got into the passenger's side. She kept completely silent, partially from embarassment, and partially from fear.

Heero wiped his hands on his pants and then mopped some sweat off of his forehead. Without even so much as glancing at Audrey, he got in and sped off down the road.

* * *

A few hours later, they reached a city. It didn't appear that there was a battle anywhere in the city, but there were many buildings under construction. There also seemed to be a few homeless people. 

"I don't get it." Audrey said as they passed a group of people standing around a burning garbage can. She hadn't spoken a word since Heero had pushed the jeep out of the ditch, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. "Why are there so many homeless people. Has it always been like this?"

"They're refugees." Heero said. "Their homes were probably destroyed in battles, and they escaped to the nearest city to find new homes. The city probably ran out of room for them, and so they're out on the streets."

"Are we stopping here?"

"Yeah."

"Are we going to sleep on the street too?"

"We'll find a room." Heero said.

"I thought they didn't have any."

"Not any free ones. You still have that credit card right?"

Audrey leaned into the back seat and dug around in her bag until she found it. "Yeah. But how is that fair? If they have to live without homes, why should we get a room."

"You want to sleep outside?"

She looked down. "No. But…"

"There are at least ten construction sites in this city, and I'm betting that the city is rich enough to pay the workers. If these people wanted to work, they could."

Audrey just stared out the window in thought.

* * *

Four hours later, they finally found a place with a room. With their bags draped over their shoulders, they walked in. Instantly their faces dropped. 

"Where's the other bed?" Audrey mumbled.

Heero just stared in dismay at the room. It was comfortable with a small table, chairs, a mini-fridge, a microwave, a TV, and a bathroom in the back. The only problem was that there was only one bed. The laws of chivalry would be against him.

"We'll just have to take turns or put up a divider or something." Audrey said. "But I don't understand. The guy said he had just the thing for us. Why would he think we wanted only one bed?"

Heero didn't respond, but just dropped his bag and went to look at the bathroom. It was small with only a shower, toilet, and lavatory. He opened the closet, to find that there were some fresh towels folded and stacked neatly on shelves.

A shower sounded really good at the moment, so when he was sure that there were no hidden dangers lurking about, he grabbed some towels and a pair of dress pants (the only clean thing he had at the moment) and locked himself in the bathroom.

After a month and a half of only half way washing with a cold faucet, and after manhandling a jeep out of a ditch, the steamy, pressurized water was like a godsend.

The moment the water hit him, all of his worries disappeared. That small town was in the past. He'd helped to destroy it. He'd helped to give the people their homes back. He never wanted to think about it again. He was no longer worried about the people of that small town.

Futhermore, he wasn't worry about what he was going to do with the girl in the room on side of him. He wasn't worried about the state of the Earth Sphere. He wasn't worried about Relena Peacecraft or her MIA brother. He wasn't worried about his gundam. For now, his only concern was washing away a month's worth of soul-cleansing.

Everything else could wait for the morning.

* * *

Terribly sorry about the wait. Hope you enjoyed this. Reviews are always appreciated.


	5. The Normal Life of Heero Yuy

Chapter 5- The Normal Life of Heero Yuy

The next morning, Heero woke up at the crack of dawn. It wasn't hard to do since he had slept on the floor. He went into the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed, and then came back out. He looked over at Audrey. She was curled up in the bed with only the top of her head visible above the sheet. Heero's eyes softened slightly as he looked at her.

Quietly, he picked the rest of the blankets up off the floor—they had been his bed the night before—and draped them over her.

He took a step back and looked around. He had to find a job today, but first he wanted to check up on the state of the Earth Sphere. He grabbed a muffin out of the fridge and silently padded over to his laptop. He hadn't been able to use it in weeks, but now that he had electricity, he was back in action.

With years of experience under his belt, he easily cracked into the nearest internet system and began his search.

To his relief, nothing major had happened while he'd been away. Relena Peacecraft was continuing her efforts, with the aid of Noin, Sally Po, and surprisingly, Lady Une. Relena was safe and taken care of.

Quatre was apparently working with Relena, probably only temporarily, to rebuild colonies destroyed in the war.

Trowa was still in the circus. Judging from a picture of him and Catherine in a circus advertisement, he seemed content.

Duo was continuing to work as a scavenger. Heero couldn't say anything about his state of mind, from the long list of parts he'd bought and sold, he assumed that Duo wasn't having any problems.

There was still no word on the whereabouts of Wufei, but Heero wasn't worried. He figured that Wufei just didn't want to be found.

Miliardo Peacecraft was nowhere to be seen. The world seemed to think he was dead, if they thought of him at all. Heero, for one, had never thought Miliardo was dead. That would be too easy of a thing to do. Zechs wouldn't go out like that.

A soft moan drew his eyes away from the computer. Rolling onto her back, Audrey stretched out contentedly. She opened her eyes and looked around sleepily. Her eyes rested on Heero for a second before she sprawled out on her stomach snuggled back into her pillow.

Heero rolled his eyes when he noticed that she had fallen back asleep. Deciding that he didn't feel like waiting for her to wake up, he turned his computer off and, after grabbing a few things, left the apartment.

It was a beautiful day. That thought struck him the minute he walked out into the sunlight. It was such a nice day, in fact, he decided he would walk instead of drive. It was not too hot, not too cool. A few people were walking here and there minding their own business. The sky was a bright blue, and white fluffy clouds would sometimes float into view above the buildings.

He didn't even stop to orient himself when he got onto the street, but immediately turned in the direction of the nearest construction site. He had remembered the locations of all the construction sites they'd passed the night before.

Heero felt a little awkward in his outfit, some dress slacks, and a dress shirt which he left a little unbuttoned. No one else seemed to notice him though, so he quickly got over the feeling.

He didn't walk at a very fast pace. He wasn't in a big hurry, and he was content to survey his new surroundings. He took notice of all the different buildings as he passed by them. Most of them were apartment buildings, but there were a few cafes and bars, a Laundromat, some convenience stores, and various other shops. It was indeed a fairly nice town.

Yet nothing was perfect.

Heero turned around calmly at the sound of someone coming up behind him.

A man, only a few years older than him, dressed in some torn jeans and a dirty coat was standing right at the edge of an alleyway. Another man, dressed similarly, was leaning against the alley wall.

"Hey Buddy. How about helping a fella out huh?"

Heero cocked an eyebrow but was otherwise motionless.

The man continued. "You don't look like you're hurting for money, so why don't you share it with the rest of us."

The other man pushed himself off the wall, and Heero tensed slightly. It wasn't noticeable to anyone, especially not to the two men in front of him, but the moment one of them made a move, Heero would be ready to spring.

"You want money?" Heero asked calmly. "Sorry. I don't have any."

The man by the wall laughed, and the one in front of him scowled. "Now we both know that's a lie. How can you not have money and still be able to afford those fancy clothes, not to mention those shoes."

"Are you trying to intimidate me?" Heero cocked his head slightly. He looked decidedly bored.

"_Am_ I intimidating you?"

"No."

The man's scowl deepened, and the other one laughed harder. He strode over to the man in front of Heero and put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon man, leave the kid alone." He turned to Heero. "You'll have to excuse him. He can't keep a job because he fights with everyone, and he still hasn't taken the hint."

Heero relaxed a bit, but was still on guard in case he was being tricked. "_You_ seem sensible." He said to the laughing man.

"One of us has to be. This here's my little brother. I take care of him, since he can't do so well on his own."

"And you let him mug people."

He laughed again. "No! No! Well…just rich little snots who don't need the money. You should watch out though. There are some other guys around that won't hesitate. We're not all bad people, though. At least I'm not. You see _he_ got sued for assaulting someone," He indicated his brother. "and I got stuck with the bill. That's why we're on the street. I'm saving up, though, to get plane tickets to…why am I telling you this? Anyways. It was nice meeting you kid. Watch out for yourself. Don't go out after dark."

Heero nodded and stepped back, still a bit on edge, but more confused than worried. The two brothers waved and turned to walk down the street. When the two men were a safe distance away, Heero turned as well, and headed off in the other direction. _That was weird. _He thought while shaking his head.

* * *

It wasn't difficult to find a job at the construction site, especially since he agreed to work for minimum wage. It did take a while to convince the overseers that he was serious in applying to work there, and it took even longer to fill out all the paperwork. Heero had never seen so many useless documents, but he figured that it was just another part of civilian life.

_I'm a civilian now._ It seemed odd to think about.

Hours later, Heero trudged up the steps to his...their apartment. He had taken longer than he'd planned, what with getting almost-mugged and then with all the paperwork. It was already after noon.

He walked in and immediately kicked off his shoes, partially out of etiquette and partially because his feet were aching from walking across town in dress shoes. He was ready to change into some normal clothes. He immediately grabbed a clean shirt and jeans from out of his bag and headed toward the bathroom.

After two steps, however, he stopped and looked at the clothes in his hand. Curiously, he smelled them.

Slowly, almost as if dreading the answer, he turned to Audrey. She had been reading a book before Heero had come in, but had looked up at his entrance.

"My clothes are clean." Heero said almost as if he didn't understand the concept.

"Yeah." Audrey said. "I washed them."

Heero's mouth moved, but couldn't find a response.

"I didn't do anything creepy with them." Audrey was offended at his reaction. "I was doing my clothes, so I figured I would throw yours in too. If it's a problem-"

"No." Heero said. He could feel his face heating up. "It's just…uh…"

"We should go out." Audrey said suddenly. "For lunch I mean. You're even dressed up already."

Heero's face went from confused, to shocked, to embarrassed, to confused again, and finally, he reigned in his emotions and just stared.

Audrey stood and pulled the closed open. She started rummaging through her clothes. "Then after, we can go shopping. Unless…did you eat yet?"

Heero shook his head. The sudden topic changes were confusing him.

"Good." She hopped from foot in front of the closet studying the clothes she had. She only had three nice outfits, but she wasn't sure which one she wanted to wear. "It's still pretty warm out right?"

Heero nodded.

Audrey smiled. "Ah! This is so exciting!" She finally picked one and skipped into the bathroom. "I haven't eaten at a restaurant in…I can't even remember the last time!" She yelled through the door.

_I can't remember ever going to one._ Heero thought, searching his memory for one occasion. He sat on the end of the bed to wait. He still wasn't quite sure what was going on.

A few seconds later, Audrey skipped out. She ran over to the closet and slipped on some white sandals that were sort of casual, and sort of dressy. They were the only pair of shoes that matched with all three of her nice outfits. She then skipped over to the mirror and pulled her hair out of its ponytail.

Heero unconsciously studied her outfit. A white skirt with a blue flower design at the bottom came down just below her knees. A matching white shirt with the same flower design accentuated her figure. She also wore a small jacket, the same color as the flowers, with sleeves that only went a little past her elbows. Her honey blond hair fell down between her shoulder blades in wavy curls.

Heero quickly looked away and went to put on his own shoes. When he turned back around, Audrey was grabbing the keys, phone, and credit card. She handed them to him. "Ready." She said, sounding out of breath.

Heero took the keys from her, but just stared at the other two items.

"I don't have pockets." Audrey explained.

Heero rolled his eyes and put them in his pocket. Audrey skipped past him toward the stairs, while Heero followed a bit more sedately. He wasn't quite sure how she had finagled him into going to a restaurant, and was even more confused as to why he'd gone along with so little thought.

It wasn't long before they were both seated at a small restaurant. Audrey was chattering about how nice the place was, how good the food sounded, and how excited she was to be there. Heero only half listened as he looked around at the people all around him. He wasn't much for public places, but luckily, they had been seated in a corner where he could clearly see everyone in the restaurant.

He focused his attention back on Audrey when he realized she had stopped talking. Audrey was staring at her menu pouting. She looked up at him, and then back down at her menu with a "hmph."

Heero looked at her incredulously, wondering at her sudden change in attitude. "What?"

"You weren't even listening." She pouted.

Heero rolled his eyes and picked up his own menu. "You weren't talking about anything important." He stated.

Audrey gaped. "How would you know if you don't even listen? And besides, I asked you how your day was."

Heero just glanced at her with a blank expression and then looked back down to his menu.

"Well?" Audrey asked.

Heero stopped reading, and, holding back a growl, asked. "Well what?"

"How was your day?"

Heero shrugged. "Fine."

"You are very detailed in your speech." She said with a straight face. "I like that."

Heero sent her a mock glare and looked back at his menu.

A few minutes later, they ordered. Heero got a steak and mashed potatoes, and Audrey got a shrimp fettuccini.

After the waitress left, the two lapsed into silence and began just looking around the restaurant again. It was times like this that they were reminded just how little they knew of each other. Even Audrey couldn't think of a conversation topic.

Heero slowly surveyed the people in the restaurant. There weren't many people there since it was too late for lunch, but too early for dinner. Nonetheless, there were a few people there. A woman and two children were sitting in a booth eating ice cream. A middle aged couple was talking over the remains of their meal. Two white haired old ladies were sitting by the window, talking and…checking him out.

Heero quickly averted his gaze. Audrey looked at him oddly, but made no comment. Heero stared down at the table cloth for a few seconds before glancing inconspicuously at the two ladies again. They were still staring at him. He blanched, cringed, and stared nervously at the table again.

"What's wrong with you?" Audrey asked. She had propped her elbows on the table and was admiring the carvings on a spoon handle.

Heero looked up at her with a serious expression. "Those two old ladies are staring at me."

"Huh?" The spoon swung in an arc before dangling limp from her fingers. Audrey got a sly look on her face. "Where."

Heero made a small motion toward the two women.

Audrey raised the spoon and used it as a mirror to see who Heero was talking about. When she saw the two old women looking at Heero and gossiping with each other, she burst into laughter.

Heero stared at her in disbelief. "It's not funny. I don't even know them."

Audrey laughed harder at his statement, but she was trying hard to sober up. Finally, she got over it, and began wiping tears from her eyes. "Well they could be spies sent out to track you." She suggested.

Heero just glared.

Audrey tried again. "Or…_maybe_, they think you're _cute_." She said in all seriousness.

Heero's jaw dropped slightly, and he started sputtering.

Audrey wasn't finished yet. "You should go talk to them. The one on the right's a real fox."

Heero's face was getting red, but he steered his expression into a glare. Audrey thought he looked like he was pouting.

"I can talk to them for you if you like." She made a move to get up, but Heero was too quick.

"No!" He hissed diving around the table and grabbing her arm. "No." He said again almost pleading.

"I was just picking with you." Audrey said sitting down. She chuckled, as Heero returned to his seat looking flustered. "You should've seen your face."

Heero scowled, and Audrey continued to snicker quietly.

Heero was infinitely relieved when the food came a few minutes later. He didn't hesitate at all before digging in. He just then realized how hungry he had been, having only eaten a muffin that morning.

Their meal was fairly silent, with occasional mostly one-sided conversations. Audrey wheedled a little information out of Heero—namely the fact that he would be starting work at a construction site the next day.

Audrey also told Heero that she had found a job at a hospice, but that, because she had no paperwork, she would have to take a test to prove that she was certified.

"They have a real shortage of staff there." She explained, pushing some noodles around her plate. "Well…maybe more an abundance of patients. So many people have move here recently, and then there's a virus going around. They're running out of vaccinations faster than they can get them, so a lot of people are getting sick. You should get vaccinated."

Heero looked up from his food and reached for his drink. "No." He said before taking a swallow.

"Why not? I did." She pulled her jacked off her shoulder to show him a pink band aid on her arm.

Heero only glanced at her and continued eating.

Audrey sighed dramatically. "Fine, but when you're sick, don't come crying to me."

"Hn."

"What?"

Heero sighed. She had recently started fussing at him whenever he didn't answer her "properly." "Noted." He clarified.

* * *

A few minutes after they'd finished, the waitress came by and placed the bill on the table. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She said before walking off.

Heero pulled the credit card out of his pocket and moved to hand it to Audrey. She just pushed it back at him.

He stared at her. "What?"

"Take it and pay."

"Huh?"

"Um. The Number 1 rule of like _the world_: guys pay for dinner." She said.

Heero blinked. "But…you're paying."

"Yes." She looked around slyly. "But they don't know that." She smiled. "Appearances."

Heero shook his head and signed the receipt. He couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "You're so ridiculous." He looked back at Audrey to see her staring at him awestruck. "What?"

"Did you just laugh?"

Heero's face dropped.

"You have a nice laugh. Do it again."

* * *

After leaving the restaurant, the two headed to a small grocery store on the corner of their block. Audrey was determined to get another blanket, and she figured that they needed food too. There were a few other necessities that she needed to pick up as well.

"Okay." Audrey said while walking into the store. "Do you want to split up? You'll get the food, I'll get everything else?"

Heero thought for a second. "No. I'll stay with you."

Audrey gave him an odd look before shrugging. "Okay." She said as if he would regret his decision.

Heero, perplexed by her sudden change in attitude, just trailed her silently as she walked off.

She headed down the bathroom aisle first, grabbing soap, shampoo, razors, and other necessities. Heero grabbed a few things for himself and threw them into the cart carelessly.

Audrey led him around a corner and down another aisle. She gave him another odd look when she noticed that he was following, but then shrugged and continued.

Heero was growing more confused by the second. First, Audrey started acting weird, and now, she led him down an aisle full of weird things he'd never seen before.

Audrey stopped and started studying the things on the shelves. Heero did the same although he didn't know what to make of them. Finally Audrey grabbed a box and threw it in the cart.

Heero couldn't reign in his curiosity any longer. He just had to know. "What is this stuff?"

Audrey froze and gave him a pained look. "Are you serious?"

Heero grabbed the box out of the cart and looked at it. He turned it around so that he could read the back, but Audrey snatched it away.

"Oh my gawd." She rolled her eyes, and then looked around. She tossed the box back in the cart, a light blush covering her cheeks. "These are for girls."

He gave her a confused look.

She squirmed a bit, before taking a deep breath. She was glad that the store was pretty empty. "How much do you know about human anatomy?"

"Enough."

"So you know how the female reproductive system works?"

Heero looked taken aback and then blushed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"A lot." Audrey said and turned the cart around. "But I'm not explaining it to you now."

With that, she walked away. Heero trailed behind even more confused than ever.

All in all, it was quite an eventful day for Heero. First, he almost got mugged. Then he learned of the hectic and annoying requirements of civilian life. Next, he had had his first experience in a restaurant (and was scoped out by two old ladies). He went shopping with a girl for the first time. And, to top it all off, that evening, a beet-faced Audrey explained to a similarly toned and quite disgusted Heero the way the female reproductive system worked.

Although he would admit that some parts of the day were quite enjoyable (his dessert for instance), he prayed that every day would not be quite so nerve-wracking.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is appreciated.


	6. Heero's Sick Day

Chapter 6- Heero's Sick Day

After Audrey passed her nursing exam and became a true certified nurse, she and Heero quickly fell into a new routine. They would wake up much too early for Audrey's taste, eat a quick breakfast, usually consisting of cereal or oatmeal. Heero would drop Audrey off at the hospice on his way to the construction site.

Audrey would usually walk home from work since she got off an hour and a half before him, and since the hospice was only a few blocks away from their apartment.

Although Audrey wasn't off on the weekends, Heero was. At first he had no idea what to do with his free time. He'd never really had free time before. There was always something for him to worry about, or wait for, or train for, or repair, or keep tabs on. Therefore, he was quite at a loss as to how to spend so much free time.

The only familiar thing he could do now was follow events on the internet and news. That got boring pretty quick, and he had to look for something else to do. At first, he'd just wandered around town. He found a park, a few interesting shops, an arcade, and most importantly, a gym.

He'd discovered the gym his first day walking around town, and hadn't been able to resist going in and checking it out. He'd been feeling the lack of exercise lately (especially after pushing the jeep out of the ditch) and had been wanting to get back in to shape. After first day there, the gym quickly became his new favorite spot. The equipment wasn't top notch, but it was good. Furthermore, the few people who did go to the gym—which weren't many—left him alone.

Another new pastime—one that he'd never really experimented with before—was watching TV. He'd watched the news before, but he'd never just sat and watched shows. He found some to be sort of stupid, but a few were okay.

Two weeks passed without any major events.

Their lucky streak drew to an end, however, one Friday night.

Heero slogged in at 6 o'clock, his usual time of return, bone tired. Audrey, who was sitting on the pallet on the floor, glanced up from her book as he walked in. She noted that he looked a little pale, but before she could get a better look at him, Heero had locked himself in the bathroom.

A second later, she heard the shower turn on. She just shrugged and continued to read.

A few minutes later Heero reemerged, freshly clean and wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants. His hair was still wet as well. He had been too tired to find a shirt or to dry his hair.

Infinitely grateful that tonight was his turn to have the bed, he flopped down face first. He was almost instantly asleep.

A second later, a sweet voice awoke him.

"Are you lost? I'm not lost at all." Heero looked up at a little girl standing beside him with a dog. He looked around in confusion. Wasn't he still in the apartment?

The girl smiled and held out a flower. Heero noticed a few similar flowers around him. He was in a field. He looked up, but instead of seeing clouds, he saw metal and bolts.

He remembered this place.

Heero looked back to the little girl, but she was gone.

He jumped up and whirled around. He was no longer in the peaceful field, but this new place was just as familiar. He was standing in the middle of a destroyed building. Heero had to fight the urge to look down. He knew what would be there, and he didn't want to see it…again. He didn't want to remember this.

The urge to look won out, and Heero's eyes settled on the corpse of the small dog. That girl's dog.

Heero's vision blurred.

Why couldn't he just forget this?

A noise made him jerk his head up. Heero looked around. He was no longer in the ruins of the girl's home.

With a sense of panic, he recognized his new surroundings. He was sitting in his gundam. The other four gundams were standing nearby. They were at the New Edwards base. It was the first time the five gundam pilots had fought together, but none of them were used to fighting as a team.

Suddenly, his screen beeped. An OZ plane had taken off. Heero panicked. He knew what happened next, but he couldn't stop it. With a sense of dread, Heero felt himself shoot towards the plane and slice it in two.

"You just took out the Alliance pacifists." Wufei's voice suddenly came over his speaker.

Heero clenched his eyes shut.

"I'm not lost at all."

Shocked, his eyes flew open again. The girl smiled at him and handed him a flower. Heero shook his head in confusion and panic and took a step backwards. He tripped over something and was sent sprawling backwards…into his gundam again.

"…the Alliance pacifists." Heero stared at the screen which showed pieces of the destroyed plane falling to the ground. The screen crackled and blurred, and then to his astonishment, so did everything else.

Suddenly he was in a leo standing in front of a church. There was smoke and commotion everywhere. Civilians were running from the church. He looked down at them wondering why the townsfolk hadn't been evacuated. Suddenly, a barrage of heat seeking missiles were fired toward him. He fired on the missiles destroying them before they hit the people.

"RED ONE!" His radio blared. Heero ignored it and backed into the smoke.

Suddenly he was in the same leo standing in a destroyed field. Heero knew that some of the field had been a town. That town was almost completely destroyed now.

"This is my way of retaliating."

Suddenly, he was playing games with the children in the town he was helping to destroy. One second, they were laughing and tugging on his arms, the next, they were dead. Heero looked down at his hands to find blood all over them.

The scenes started replaying, in flashes. One second, the girl was handing him a flower, the next, he was driving his beam saber into the plane filled with pacifists. Then he was volunteering to fight with the Treize faction. The next second, the town was on fire, and people were running away screaming.

Suddenly someone was calling his name. Relena's face flashed into view. "This fight is meaningless!" She yelled. "HEERO!"

Her face swirled and was replaced with Quatre's. "We aren't needed Heero!"

Relena was back. "HEERO!"

Then it was a battered Duo. "Go ahead and shoot me." Heero stared at him and tightened his hold on the trigger. "It's apparent that you're the bad guy here. HEERO!"

Suddenly Zechs was in front of him. "I WANT TO SEE YOU FIGHT!" Zechs lunged at him.

Heero jerked up. He felt a hand on his shoulder and pulled it off. He lunged at the person and tackled them to the floor with one hand gripping both hands above their head and the other gripping their throat.

Heero looked around and, as his eyes slowly came into focus, realized that he was in his apartment. He looked down at whoever he had tackled to find Audrey trying wriggle out of his grip and struggling to breathe. He blinked at her terror filled eyes as if he couldn't comprehend the sight. Finally, he snapped to and jumped off her. He retreated all the way to the wall as she pulled herself off the floor. He just stared at her half expecting her to disappear or turn into someone else. His vision wouldn't clear all the way. He rubbed his eyes and then pulled his hand away quickly as if shocked. He was crying. He scrubbed at his face, tyring to clear away the traces of both tears and sweat.

"Are you okay?" A somewhat raspy voice asked.

Heero jumped at the question and looked back over to Audrey. She was rubbing her throat. There would probably be a bruise there in the morning. "Wha…?"

She cleared her throat with a grimace before repeating. "Are you okay?"

Heero nodded.

Neither moved for a few seconds. Finally, Audrey took a step forward. Heero tried to move back, but could only press himself against the wall. Audrey came to stand a foot in front of him. Almost tentatively, she placed a hand on his cheek. Heero just stood in confusion. Audrey slid her hand up to his forehead brushing away his sweaty bangs as she did so.

She took a step back. "You have a fever. That probably caused you to have hallucinations and nightmares. Go back to bed."

Heero just stared. For some reason, his head felt foggy and he was having trouble comprehending anything. "Wha…?"

"You're sick." Audrey stated. "It's probably the virus. You need to sleep."

"Oh…yeah." He said groggily. He took a step forward, but the room started to spin. After using up so much energy, and then without the wall to steady him, he was completely powerless to walk on his own.

He was caught in not-so-strong arms.

Audrey grunted, when he collapsed on top of her. "I told you to get vaccinated. But did you listen? Obviously not." She mumbled as she struggled to carry Heero back to bed.

"Am I gonna die?" Heero mumbled as Audrey tucked him back into his bed. The thought of dying may not have bothered him in the past, but at the moment, it was decidedly distasteful.

"Not likely." Audrey said. "You'll just feel miserable for a while." She grabbed the garbage can and put it beside the bed. "Here. For if…well when you have to throw up."

Heero groaned.

"You'd probably to better lying on your side." Audrey told him pulling his blankets up a bit. She went to the closet and pulled out the first aid kit. Heero watched her dig around a bit and then pull out a thermometer. She came back over to him and shoved it in his mouth. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

Heero wiggled the thermometer a bit before he got it into a comfortable position. With a semi-miserable groan, he glanced up at the clock beside the bed. It was 9:30.

He shivered and curled up on his side. He was sweating, but he still felt cold.

As promised, Audrey returned a few minutes later. She pulled the thermometer out and read it with a small grunt. She looked back down at Heero as if studying him, and then handed him a pill. "Here. This will bring the fever down." Heero tried to push himself up on his elbow, but he felt completely drained.

Audrey, seeing his struggle, sat on the edge of the bed and helped him to sit up a bit. She had to help him to take the pill as well since his hands were shaking. Afterwards, she helped him to lie back down.

She headed back into the bathroom and came back out a few seconds later with a wet cloth. She placed the cloth on Heero's forehead. Heero grabbed her wrist in a shaky hand as she moved away. When she flinched, he pulled his hand away.

"Sorry." He mumbled, momentarily forgetting the reason he'd grabbed her, and confused as to why she had reacted the way she had.

She shrugged. "It's okay. Just try to rest." She turned to walk away, but Heero stopped her again.

"Why…why are you taking care of me?"

She looked at him oddly. "Why wouldn't I? Besides, someone's got to." With that said, she headed into the bathroom to take a shower.

Heero stared after her for a few minutes before succumbing to a fitful sleep.

* * *

It had been the most uncomfortable night sleep he'd had since he'd self destructed. No matter how he turned, he couldn't find a comfortable position. He reached the pinnacle of his misery when, at nearly 3:30 in the morning, he had the urge to throw up…and then again, a half hour later, even though he had been certain that there was nothing left in his stomach. 

Both times, Audrey was right beside him rubbing his back, cleaning up after him, wiping his face, and getting him a drink. He was too miserable to be embarrassed or to question her actions.

When he did manage to fall asleep, he had strange dreams—none as disturbing as before, but still odd. When he woke up, every time, he felt disoriented, but he could never remember what he had dreamt about.

Audrey didn't sleep very well either, having gotten up every few hours to check on Heero, and waking up both times he'd gotten sick. She decided that she would stay home from work. She couldn't see any way around it. Heero was in to terrible a state for her to leave him alone. He couldn't walk on his own and he could hardly sit up without her help.

* * *

Heero woke up the next day around noon. Audrey wouldn't allow him out of bed, and Heero gladly complied. He felt a lot better than before, but he still felt terrible. 

Audrey had gone to the trouble of renting a stack of old movies. Classics, she called them. Heero didn't really know about different qualities of movies, but he supposed they were okay—the parts he was awake through at least. Most of them were black and white. Many of them romances. One didn't even have talking.

That was pretty much all they did the entire day. Audrey watched movies, and occasionally read. Heero slept, and occasionally caught a few minutes of a movie.

* * *

The next day, he was significantly better. He was still a little weak, but he was finally able to do things on his own. Audrey went to work, and Heero was left alone. He stayed in bed all day. He decided that, instead of going to the gym like us usually did, he would just stay home. The thought of walking across town wasn't particularly appealing. At first, he just flipped through TV channels. When he didn't find anything interesting, he tried one of the movies Audrey had rented. He picked one that she had watched the day before. He had slept through most of it when she'd watched it, but the parts he had seen, he'd thought were pretty good. 

It was even better when he saw the whole thing. It was apparently set during a war, in a busy north African town. The town was on the stopping line for people trying to escape from Europe and Africa to the United States. The town was nominally allied with one side of the war, but many of the people in the town were either rooting for the other side, or didn't care. The story was about a mysterious club owner, who is briefly reunited with a past love. The problem was that his past love was married to a man who was fighting for the other side. The club owner had to determine whether or not he would set aside his sense of betrayal, and do something for the good of others—something has never done.

Heero didn't really care about the romance part of the movie, but the rest, with the conspiracies and traitors and bad governments, was pretty interesting.

As the credits of the movie came to an end, he gave a lazy stretch and finally pulled himself out of bed. He didn't really feel like watching another movie, but he didn't want to go back to sleep either. He decided that he would check up on things in the Earth Sphere.

A bit slower than usual, he shuffled toward the table, but stopped before he grabbed his laptop. He noticed Audrey's book sitting right on side of it. Curiously, he picked it up. He always noticed her reading it, but he had never bothered to find out what it was. Looking around the room as if to make sure that no one would see him, he sat down and opened it to the first page.

Before long he was completely enthralled. Conspiracies, underground societies, murder, betrayal, swordfights, revenge, and a little love all piled into one book.

No wonder she was always reading.

Heero hardly noticed the time, until the door opened. He jumped and quickly shut the book.

Audrey just stood there staring at him for a few seconds, wondering why he was looking like he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Then she noticed her book. Slowly, she looked up to meet his eyes. He quickly schooled his face into a more neutral look, but his eyes still held a hint of nervousness.

Chuckling a bit, she flashed him a smile. "You like it?"

Looking down, he realized that the book was still in his hands. He slid it back on the table and opened his laptop . "It's okay." He just sat and stared at it while waiting for it to turn on.

Audrey wasn't willing to drop the subject. She sidled up behind him and picked her book up.

Heero gave her a sidelong glance, but paused when he finally registered what she was wearing—a long sleeved turtleneck shirt. He was pretty sure that it wasn't cold outside. He knew that he should know why she was dressed like that. Something had happened. He just couldn't remember what.

Audrey flipped through the book highlighted all the good parts. She looked back at him, to find him staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

Heero's eyes snapped to hers and he just stared. Finally, he decided to ask. "Why are you dressed like that?"

She seemed shocked. "You don't remember?" She mumbled before shaking herself. She obviously hadn't intended for him to hear that.

He had heard though. "Remember what?"

She looked uncomfortable at the question, but tried to shrug it off. "Nothing." She turned and started to walk away, but Heero grabbed her wrist to stop her. She flinched, and he drew back. He suddenly remembered this happening before.

Slowly, almost as if in a dream, he stood and, despite her trying to prevent it, gently grabbed her wrist. He pulled her sleeve up a little to see a bruise wrapping around her wrist.

Audrey tried to pull her hand back, but he wouldn't let go. He looked up to her neck, but didn't move to pull the turtleneck down. He knew what would be there, and he didn't want to see it. "I did this." He mumbled, his eyes glazing over slightly.

Audrey finally succeeded in pulling her hand away, but didn't move from her spot in front of him. "You were hallucinating." She explained softly. She was worried about his reaction.

"Hn." He looked away.

She took a step toward him and placed a hand on his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged.

Audrey dropped her hand and looked around the room nervously. Audrey desperately wanted to change the subject, so she pasted on a smile and skipped toward the stack of movies. "Good." She said grabbing a movie and sticking it in the DVD player. "Because we still have a few movies to watch."

Heero was somewhat confused by the sudden change of topic, but he just shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Audrey grabbed some snacks and lied on her stomach beside him. The movie opened with a panoramic view of Austrian mountains. Heero stared, but soon lost interest when the movie just kept showing pictures of mountains and towns and churches.

He glanced at her wondering what kind of movie they were watching, but while doing so, he caught a glimpse of the bruise on her neck. It was a dark blue and was shaped like his hand. He froze and stared at it, feeling guilty.

"It's starting." Audrey said. If she had noticed him staring at her, she didn't let on to it.

Heero looked back at the TV just in time to see a woman starting to sing and dance on a hill.

_She's kidding right? _Heero thought. "What…is this?"

"_The Sound of Music_." Audrey said without looking away from the screen. "It was made in the 1900's AD. It's set during WWII."

"AD?" Heero said, amazed. "This movie's centuries old."

"It's newer than the others. You see," Audrey said. "I decided that since you've seen practically no good movies, I would show you movies from different eras in the order that they were made. The ones we watched yesterday were the first movies ever made. Didn't I explain this to you?"

Heero stared at her and shook his head.

"I thought I did…oh well." She then paused the movie and launched into a detailed explanation of the history of film. Heero thought it was fairly interesting, so he paid attention a bit more than he usually did when she talked. "…You'll probably like the more modern movies better." She summed up.

"What's so different about them?"

"Besides the computer graphics and whatnot, well…uhh…they have different take on relations and themes I guess. In most older movies, there's a clear line between good and bad, but there are different issues that make them a bit...iffy to modern viewers. Like the way certain races and women are portrayed. Not all of them are like that though, and the storylines are pretty unique. One of the main differences is that, unually in older movies, the protagonist doesn't do much wrong, and the villain in plain old evil. Most people find the characters in more recent movies a bit more realistic. Protagonists's occasionally blow off the handle; sometimes they have mental problems. Still there are some problems with the more recent ones. Some of the storylines are a little played out, and some of them were just made for money instead of value." She shrugged. "Personally though, I prefer older movies to some of the modern ones—or at least movies based on old themes. In some recent ones, the characters are a little too bad for me to sympathize with. But…everyone has their preference. I'm just showing you what's out there." She moved to turn the movie back on, but stopped. "Just so you know, when a movie is based off of a book, it's usually not as good as the book…unless it's a really long movie." She then hit play and turned back to the TV.

Heero stared at her a minute and then asked. "When did you have the time to think about all that?"

"Huh?" She turned back to him, but let the movie play.

"You just told me the entire history of motion pictures and evaluated its different stages."

"I did?" She looked upwards as if thinking. "Oh…well…It's stuff everybody knows. Plus, I've seen a lot of movies. My mom always liked older ones, and my dad always liked the new ones…and I watched commentaries on some of them…so…" She shrugged.

Heero just stared at her for a few seconds and looked back to the movie. He lied down on his stomach without looking away from the TV, grabbed one of the cookies that Audrey had brought out.

Audrey noticed, and slid the cookies a bit closer to him. With a small smile, she continued to watch the movie. It had always been one of her favorites.

Heero on the other hand was not enjoying it so much. He had to suppress a groan as a group of nuns started singing.

Ten minutes later, Audrey turned away from the movie to explain the history behind the Nazis and their relationship with Austria. It was with chagrin that she noticed Heero's state. She paused to stare at him and then huffed in indignation. Then with a sigh of annoyance, she threw a blanket over him.

With a small pout, she continued to watch the movie, Heero fast asleep beside her.

* * *

Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter. A special thanks to Sylver Secret, alathea, moogle in paradaisu, rukz, and IAmAurora for reviewing.

I do not own _The Sound of Music_.

Please Review.


	7. Heero's Turn

Chapter 7- Heero's Turn

Audrey dropped her purse on the bedside table with a tired sigh. Although Heero was healthy again, the rest of the city was not. The virus was spreading more quickly than ever, probably due to the warm and humid weather. The hospice had gotten a shipment of the vaccination in, and people had swarmed to get some. The shortage of staff at the hospice made it necessary for the few employees they had to work harder. Therefore, Audrey had been kept late.

Heero was in the shower; he had probably been back for over an hour.

Audrey would have liked a shower herself, but she supposed that she would have to be satisfied with a bowl of cereal for now.

She quickly poured herself a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and then headed to the mini-fridge for milk. None. She glared toward the bathroom where she could hear the shower running, and then looked sadly back to her bowl of cereal. It would be no good without milk. Standing tiredly, she glanced at the clock. It read 7:45. If she was quick, she could catch the shop down the road before it closed.

She quickly snatched her purse and ran out the door.

As she walked down the dark street toward the store, she dug in her purse to make sure that she had money. She had never walked this way before, but she knew where the store was. The hospice was in the other direction.

The street was pretty dark, so she had a hard time finding her wallet. The strong smell of alcohol and cigarettes assaulted her nose, and she idly wondered if this area always smelled that way.

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her arm and she was slammed against a brick wall. With a startled gasp, she tried to push whoever it was away. She was unsuccessful.

A rather burly man with a messy beard grabbed onto her purse. Audrey tugged it back with one hand and clawed at the man's face with her other. The man growled as blood began to pour from the scratches she'd left on his cheek. Rather clumsily, but with more strength than Audrey would have assumed him to have, he pinned both her hands above her head and shoved his thigh between her legs. The purse seemingly forgotten, he pressed his body to hers to prevent her from struggling.

"You're a feisty one aren't you?" He growled into her ear causing Audrey to struggle more. The smell of alcohol was strong on his breath. Audrey stared into the man's half lidded, blood shot eyes in terror. Her own eyes began to fill up with tears.

The man looked around the alleyway that he'd pulled her into and then at the street. Apparently seeing that no one was around, he began tugging at the hem of her shirt.

Audrey opened her mouth to scream, but before she could get any sound out, the man pressed his mouth over hers. Audrey tried to pull back, but the wall was preventing her from doing anything. She kept her teeth clenched and her lips pressed firmly together, nevertheless.

"C'mon doll." The man pulled his face back a bit to leer at her. "Play nice with me."

The man's free hand traveled up her shirt and roughly tore her bra off. Audrey gasped in horror, and the man took advantage of this by shoving his tongue into her mouth. Audrey's first reaction was to bite, and she did. The taste of blood was disgusting in her mouth, but she hardly noticed because the man had loosened his grip on her. She didn't hesitate to wrench both her hands free. With all of her strength, she pushed him back. He stumbled back only a step, but that was all she needed to drive her knee into his groin.

It was his turn to gasp now, as his knees buckled. Audrey started to run, but the man reached out and grabbed her ankle, causing her to trip and slam into the cement. Within a second, he had pounced on top of her, fury blazing in his eyes. He swung his fist at her face, making her head slam back into the ground and a rush of blood to fly out of her nose.

He drove his fist into her stomach and face over, while yelling and cursing at her. Audrey, overcome by pain and panic, could do nothing more than cry.

The man pulled her off the ground and pinned her back against the wall while tugging at waist of her pants. The few seconds it took for him to do this gave her brain enough time to orient itself. She swung at him with the purse that she still had clutched in her hand, and struggled furiously to get free. Again, she managed to push him off a little, and again, she kneed him. As he stumbled back this time, however, she followed the knee with a swift kick, putting into it all the strength she had.

Without even waiting to see the effect it had on him, she was off like a light. Everything was a blur to her as she ran back to the apartment. Tears and blood obscured her vision, and she was too scared to notice the throbbing of her ankle or the burning pain in her chest and face. All she could think about was getting somewhere safe.

She flew up the stairs to their apartment fishing her keys out of her purse as she ran. She was too scared to even look behind her to see if the man had followed her; paranoia told her that he was there and that she had to get away.

Running solely on adrenaline, she reached the apartment, threw herself through the door, and locked it behind her. This accomplished, she collapsed into the wall and slid down it to become a sobbing heap onto the floor.

* * *

Heero had been sitting at the small table typing on his laptop when she'd come in. He glanced over in irritation at her noisy entrance, and was about to ignore her altogether, when he noticed the smear of blood she had left on the wall. 

His heart rate sped up, but he remained composed. Almost too calmly for the situation, he pulled himself out of his chair and strode over to her. She had pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them.

Heero looked her over, assessing her injuries. He noticed that new bruises were forming on her wrists, but that was all he could see. He needed her to move so that he could see better. In an attempt to get her to look at him, he grabbed her lightly.

She jumped back and flattened herself against the wall with a scream.

Heero was wholly unprepared for her reaction or for the state her face was in. Blood was pouring from her mouth and a myriad of bruises were beginning to form on her face. Heero realized that she didn't recognize him. Her eyes were glued to him with a mixture of dread and terror, and she was quaking in fear.

Heero moved toward her, but she screamed again and swung at him.

Heero grabbed her arms as gently as he could in an attempt to keep her still. He didn't need her hurting herself more. "Stop!" He yelled.

She instantly got quiet, but continued to shiver against the wall.

Heero moved a bit closer to examine her injuries. She flinched, and scooted back along the wall to get away from him.

"Audrey." He said calmly, backing up a bit and raising his hands to show that he would not hurt her. "It's me. Heero."

Her terror started to slowly recede as she realized who he was.

"What happened?" He asked.

She opened her mouth to reply, but ended up just coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Heero's sensed flared in alarm, and his soldier instincts kicked in. With neither panic nor hesitation, he grabbed his keys, slipped his shoes on, scooped Audrey into his arms, and strode out of the apartment.

By the time they had reached the jeep, Audrey finally managed to speak. "Where…where are—"

"Don't talk." Heero ordered as he placed her gently into the passenger side and shut the door. He strode around the jeep and slid into his seat. "I'm taking you to the hospital." Casting her a quick glance, he revved the engine and sped out of the parking lot.

Audrey sat miserably in the passenger seat, occasionally choking up more blood. The hospital was only a few minutes away, but about halfway through the ride, Audrey's eyelids started to droop. Heero had been glancing over at her every few seconds, and noticed this.

"Don't go to sleep." He said.

Audrey jumped at sudden order causing pain to shoot through her chest. She hissed and clenched her eyes shut. She found this to be a mistake, however, because it was becoming evermore difficult to pry them open again.

Heero noticed, and sped up slightly.

The next thing Audrey knew, she was being pulled, somewhat gently out of the jeep, jostled a bit, and then laid on something that, she was sure, was not quite as soft as it should be. Something was placed over her face, and she felt whatever she was on start to move. She heard distant voices, and saw things blur by, but she found it too difficult to focus on any of them. Finally she gave in to the welcoming and pain-free darkness that had been creeping up on her.

Heero watched as Audrey was wheeled off.

"Um. Sir?" A young nurse called to him from behind a counter.

Heero turned to look at her without expression.

"We'll need you to fill out some forms." The nurse said holding up a clipboard. Heero wiped his bloody hands on his pants to clean them and then and took the clipboard form the nurse. This situation was something he was rather unused to. Generally, he was the one confined to a hospital bed while other people worried over him. The only other time he'd done something like this was when he'd rescued Duo from an enemy base in outer space.

Heero quickly scanned the document, but looked up when the nurse started to question him.

"Are you her husband?" She asked.

Heero, somewhat shocked, shook his head. _I look old enough to be married?_

"Fiancé?" She asked.

"I'm just a…friend." He said. "And she has no living relatives." Heero preferred to avoid dealing with Audrey's parents whenever possible.

"Oh." The nurse said awkwardly. "Well just fill out as much as you can. And we'll need you to sign for a rape kit."

"A what?" Heero hoped he hadn't heard correctly.

"It's procedure in these cases." The nurse said. "Have you filed a police report?"

Heero shook his head.

"That's alright. We can do that." The nurse dug around her desk and then produced a paper. "Just fill this out too."

Heero took the paper and read over it. The hassle and paperwork of civilian life was somewhat new to him. He'd never had to write so much as a soldier.

"There's a room right over there." The nurse pointed down the hall. "You can fill them out there if you like and just bring them back here after."

Heero just nodded and walked off in the direction she had indicated.

A few minutes later, Heero had filled the papers out as best he could. There were still a lot of blanks left, though, a reminder that he and Audrey didn't know much about each other.

As he approached the nurse's desk for the second time that night, he spotted two policemen. They stared at him as he approached, and one of the police and the nurse had a quiet conversation.

Heero remained stoic as he gave the nurse the forms back. As soon as the clipboard left his hands, one of the policemen spoke up.

"Young man, can we speak with you."

Heero stared at the men calmly although he was beginning to grow suspicious. "Sure."

The two policemen escorted him back to the room he'd just come from.

"Now I don't want to get off to a bad start." The first policeman said. "We're not accusing you of anything. My name's Rob and this is Anthony." He pointed to his partner who was leaning against the door. Heero noticed that they both had guns. "You brought a badly beaten woman in here earlier, did you not?" Rob said. "Can you fill us in on what happened?"

"I don't know." Heero said.

Both police frowned.

"Let's start at the beginning." Rob motioned Heero to a chair. Heero didn't move. Rob decided to let his stubbornness go and continued. "Her name…"

"Audrey."

"And you know her how?"

"She lives with me."

"Girlfriend then." Rob nodded in understanding.

"No." Heero stated clearly.

"Not your girlfriend, no relation the nurse says. What is she then?"

"Just a friend."

"Well you don't seem too shaken up by this incident." Rob crossed his arms across his chest.

_Sloppy technique for someone who doesn't know what kind of person they're dealing with. _Heero noticed. _He's welcoming an attack._

"Care to show us your hands?" Rob said.

Heero stuck both his hands out, clenched them into fists, unclenched them, and flipped them over so the police could look at his palms. He gave Rob a bored look.

"Hm." Rob said noticing that there was a little blood on them but no signs that he'd been the one to hit her. "You have a lot of blood on your clothes." He pointed out.

"I carried her." Heero stated simply.

"From where?"

"Our apartment."

Rob gave him a suspicious look. "She was beaten in your apartment? Where were you?"

"She was beaten somewhere else. She came in looking like that."

"And you have no idea who did it to her?"

"No."

Rob took a step back. "We'll know when she wakes up." He said as though it were a threat. "We'll be watching you."

With that, the two policemen left.

Heero stared after them before collapsing into a chair, his mind racing, but not about anything the police had said. _Dammit! How could she have been so careless? How could **I** have been so careless?_ Leaning back with his arms crossed, he closed his eyes. He couldn't decide if he should try to figure out who attacked her or not. It could be someone looking for him, or it could have just been some regular old punk. Either way, he had nothing to go on until she woke up.

After an hour or two, a doctor walked in. "You are the young man that brought Audrey Harper in."

Heero nodded and stood.

"She isn't awake yet, but she has been transferred to room 352. She was hurt pretty badly. Three cracked ribs, a broken nose, a minor concussion, and some internal bleeding among other things. We don't know when she will wake up. It could be tonight or next week, but we think it's better if someone she knew were there."

Heero nodded in understanding. The doctor left, and Heero stood for a few seconds to decide whether or not he would stay with her. He'd never been one for a bedside vigil, but he did see the doctor's logic. Besides, there was no doubt that he owed her. She had taken care of him after the war ended and again when he had gotten sick.

He briefly thought back to Audrey's terrified, bloody face.

He'd stay with her, he decided, but he'd get his laptop first…and put on some clean clothes instead of the bloody pajamas he was now wearing.

* * *

The first thing she heard upon regaining consciousness was annoying clicking sound. The clicking soon stopped, however, and was replaced by a loud squeak and someone hollering "wake up." She turned her head the other way and tried to ignore whoever it was. 

"Come on, Audrey." The voice said louder. "Wake up."

"Stop yelling." She whispered hoarsely, but even her voice seemed loud. She raised her hand to her throat, and was surprised at the amount of effort it took and how much pain in caused. With a slight groan, she opened her eyes a crack—or one eye since the other didn't want to cooperate—to see that her lower left arm was covered in a bandage. She slowly raised her right arm to inspect it. She could see a large purple bruise wrapping around her wrist and a large bandage covering what she assumed was a scrape on her elbow.

Cautiously, she touched her face, feeling how swollen and tender it was. _What happened to me?_ She thought back, and suddenly, images of a big man pinning her to a wall flashed through her brain. She gasped, and tears started to cloud her vision. She wrapped her arms around her chest, and noticed that even that was painful to do. More images flashed through her brain, and with them, came more tears.

Suddenly a figure appeared beside her.

She flinched away, but then, realizing that it was only Heero, just turned her head away. She didn't know just what her face looked like, but she was sure that it wasn't pretty.

Heero had sat watching her all day. When she'd finally woken up, he wasn't quite sure what to do. He'd just continued to sit and watch her as she inspected herself, but her sudden fit of tears alarmed him somewhat.

"Who did this?" He said softly. He pulled his chair closer to her bed and sat down.

She let out a loud sob before shaking her head.

As much as he wanted to know who attacked her, he realized that in her fragile state, it would do more harm than good if he pressed her. She wasn't a soldier like he was. He would have to be patient.

He watched as her shoulders shook with each sob. _Patience._ He reminded himself. _Be gentle._ It was definitely not his area of expertise, but he would have to try.

"Audrey." He said putting his finger on her chin and turning her face toward him. A large black bruise over her right eye stood out among other various cuts and bruises. Tears streaked down her cheeks, and her working eye stayed glued to some area on the other side of the room.

"Look at me." He demanded.

Reluctantly, she obeyed.

"It's okay." He attempted, pulling his hand back.

She choked back another sob and nodded.

"Just rest." He sat there awkwardly for a few seconds and looked her over. Realizing that he had no idea what else to do to help her, he retreated back to familiar territory. Audrey watched him as he turned back to his laptop and proceeded to ignore her.

Sleeping sounded like a good idea to Audrey. She closed her eyes, but was immediately assaulted by images of the previous night. She snapped her eyes back open with a small gasp and looked around the room. She listened as the beeping of the heart monitor sped up, and just then realized how annoying it was. Surely she didn't need that particular machine anymore. She turned her head to find that it was right beside her. She reached her hand up and traced the wire to where it was attached to her skin. With a swift yank, she pulled it off, turning the beeping into just one long beep.

Heero looked back over at her, and had just enough time to stand before two doctors and a policeman ran in.

The policeman made a beeline for Heero, handcuffs drawn.

The doctors ran to Audrey. When they noticed that she was awake, however, they all stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

"Young lady." One of the doctors said walking around her bed to machine. The other walked over to her and shined a light in each of her eyes. "It's nice to see you're back with us, but the heart monitor must stay attached."

"But it was loud." Audrey complained hoarsely.

The second doctor picked his light up, and began to expect the injuries to her face and arms.

"I'm sorry." He said reattaching the device. "But it's important to our surveillance of your recovery."

"Can I go home?" She asked. Her "home" was nothing more than a small apartment, but she figured it was better than a hospital.

"Depending on your recovery, you'll have to stay here for at least a few days, probably a week."

Audrey scowled.

"Try to keep still during that time. We'll be in periodically to check on you." With that they all walked out, the policeman glaring at Heero as he walked out the door.

The room was again plunged into silence. Audrey considered trying to sleep again, but every time she closed her eyes, she began reliving the attack.

Heero wasn't much with conversation. He had no idea what to say, and he figured that he'd be a bigger help hacking into the city's crime records.

To Audrey, it seemed that he had forgotten that she was in the room. It didn't bother her however; she was somewhat reassured just by the fact that he was there.

In an attempt to push the events out of her mind, she busied herself with looking around the room. Spotting a clock on the wall, she noticed that it was 6 o'clock. She couldn't tell if it was in the morning or evening, though. With something akin to relief, she noticed that there was a TV hanging in the corner of the room. She didn't know what she would have done for a week without it.

_Now to find a remote._ She thought, looking around for it. She couldn't see anything, from her position though. After a bit of painful wiggling, she managed to prop herself on her elbows.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked, glancing up for a second.

Audrey didn't answer. She was busy catching her breath.

Heero stood with a sigh. "Here." He said while pushing a button on side of the bed. The head of the bed rose up "Lean back." Heero gently grabbed her upper arms to help her.

"Thanks." She mumbled grabbing the remote that she'd been looking for off of the bedside table.

Heero just grunted and went back to his seat.

Audrey hardly noticed that he was unusually quiet. She just began flipping through channels. She finally settled on cartoons.

A little over an hour later, there was a knock on the door, and a woman walked in. "Hello." She said walking toward Audrey. "I'm detective Summers. May I have a word with you…alone."

Heero glanced up at her and then at Audrey. Audrey gave him a small nod. Heero quickly looked the woman over, and then deciding that she posed no threat, grabbed his laptop and left.

Audrey turned the TV off and stared at the woman.

Detective summers put her bag on the floor sat down in the chair that Heero had just vacated. "We picked up a man last night. One that we believe did this to you. His DNA matched the blood we found on your fingernails. What we need you to tell us is what happened."

Audrey looked down at her hands which she was fidgeting in her lap. "I was just walking to the store." She said. "And he grabbed me. I think he just wanted my purse, but I scratched him and he got mad."

"Did he try to rape you?" She asked.

Audrey's eyes got cloudy, and she nodded.

"And you fought back." It was more a statement than a question.

She nodded again.

Detective Summers dug in her bag and pulled out a folder. "Do you think you would recognize him if you saw him again?" She asked.

Audrey looked at the file before shrugging.

"Would you like to try?" The detective asked before explaining. "It would make a stronger argument in court if you did."

Audrey just nodded, and the detective handed her a paper with the pictures of about twenty men on it. She scanned the rows before her eyes came to rest on one in particular. Without saying anything, she pointed to the picture.

The detective nodded and took the paper back. She gave Audrey a reassuring smile before standing. "Don't worry." She said. "He'll never bother you again." She dug in her pocket before handing Audrey a card. "If you need anything, just give me a call."

With that, she left.

Audrey simply stared at her hands through blurry eyes for a while, before the tears finally made their way down her cheek. Her hand felt around the side of the bed before she found the button that Heero had pushed. She fiddled with it a bit before she succeeded in making the bed go back down. As soon as she was flat, she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball with her back facing the door. Moving was still painful, but she just felt so vulnerable.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, Heero came back in. He'd gone down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. He was greeted with the sight of Audrey curled tightly into a ball.

Heero put his laptop onto the table and leaned over to look at her face.

She appeared to be asleep, but tears were steadily making their way down her face. Every few seconds, she would shudder.

"Audrey." He said quietly.

She didn't respond.

He tried calling her again, this time a bit louder. Again nothing.

He didn't know what else to do, so he just buzzed the nurse. A few seconds later, a nurse hurried in. She checked the machines and then looked Audrey over.

"She's exhausted. She needs to sleep." The nurse stated. "But it appears that she's having a nightmare. I'll be right back." The nurse left Heero standing in the middle of the room, only to walk back in a few seconds later. "This will fix her right up." She said, and injected something into Audrey's IV.

"What did you do?" Heero asked as he watched Audrey's shudders slowly lessen and then subside altogether.

"I just gave her a little something that will let her sleep better and not have dreams." The nurse explained while pulling Audrey's blankets back. "She won't wake up for a few hours at least." She gently pulled Audrey's arms from around her body and stretched her legs out. "It would probably be better if we turned her though. Can you help?"

Propping one knee on the edge of the bed, Heero gently lifted Audrey and then placed her back down on her back.

The nurse pulled the blanket back over Audrey. "That should do it. If there are any more problems, you know how to reach me." She checked the machines one more time, and then left.

Heero just turned back to his seat and turned the TV on to the news.

* * *

Audrey was released from the hospital a week and a half later. She had decided not to tell her parents about the incident. They already begged her to go home every time she talked to them, and telling them about this would only give them more reason to worry.

She didn't know what this would do to her and Heero's relationship. She'd always assumed that their friendship was based on the fact that they were working for the same cause. Now that she was out of commission, however, she was afraid, that they friendship would be hurt. Also, the hospital bill was sapping up a lot of their funds, and she didn't know if she'd be able to get more from her father without providing an explanation.

She was surprised that Heero had stayed around for as long as he had, although she was sure that his idea of duty probably had something to do with it. Heero continued to go to work on the weekdays, but he'd stay at the hospital on the weekends and, surprisingly, every night as well. He'd even brought her her book and the movies she'd rented.

The question was bugging her, especially when she was alone.

That's why, when Heero arrived to pick her up, she fixed him with a puzzled look. "Why are you dong this?" She asked as he helped her into a wheelchair.

He looked at her, his face blank. "Doing what?"

"Not…leaving me…"

He stared at her for a few seconds before replying. "You took care of me."

She stared at him for a few minutes before asking. "So this is just duty?"

He stayed silent, and from the look on his face, Audrey could tell that he was deep in thought. That alone told her that it wasn't.

Finally, he looked back down at her. "No." With that said, he grabbed the handles of the chair started to push her out of the hospital.

* * *

The entire time she was at the hospital, Audrey wanted nothing more than to leave and get the whole experience behind her. She figured that returning to their apartment would be a step in the right direction. Her assumption turned out to be wrong.

As the night came on, and she and Heero both got ready for bed, fear began to creep up on her. Being so close to the place she was attacked, and knowing that there were probably more men out there just like the man who had attacked her was terrifying.

She tried to act normal, though, and just climbed into bed. Heero had stretched out on the floor and within minutes, was asleep. Audrey had a bit more trouble falling asleep, however.

She squirmed uncomfortably for over an hour, listening to every small noise. Her eyes darted around the room in alarm every time she heard any noise out of the ordinary.

A door slammed somewhere down the hall, and she tensed. Sweat began to bead on her forehead, and her breathing quickened. She calmed slightly when she reassured herself that there was no one in the room. Nonetheless, she was still scared.

She leaned over a bit to see Heero's feet. She didn't know much about him, but she knew that he was strong and that she could trust him. It was a small comfort to have him near.

"He'll never bother me again." She repeated what the detective told her in a whisper. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried falling asleep, but the images wouldn't go away. After fifteen minutes of lying there miserably, she painfully dragged herself out of bed. She crawled over to Heero and lie down on side of him. She didn't touch him, but, she got close enough to feel his warmth.

Feeling slightly safer, she finally succumbed to sleep.

Heero snapped awake when he felt someone grab onto his arm. He almost attacked out of instinct, but calmed down when he saw it was only Audrey. She was sleeping fitfully and had apparently been there for a while.

Confused, Heero looked up at the bed. _Why is she on the floor?_

Heero looked back down at Audrey. She moved a little and pulled herself closer to him with a shiver.

Heero froze. He had not idea how to respond to this. He just stared at her for a few seconds, before deciding that he'd just put her back in bed. Heero gently pried her hands off his arm and sat up. He shook her lightly.

She jumped swatted at him. She tried to sit up, but Heero gently pressed her down. Her eyes darted around the room.

"Audrey." Heero said, catching her attention. "Why aren't you in bed?"

She blushed a bit and looked down. "I was scared." She mumbled just loud enough for him to hear her.

Heero stared at her. "Of…?"

She shrugged, her lip trembling a bit.

Heero sighed. "Come on." He slipped his arms under her knees and behind her back and lifted her from the floor. He placed her back into bed, but when he tried to turn back to his bed, she refused to let go of him. "What?" He asked irritated. _It's two o'clock in the morning! _

She reluctantly let go, and Heero's irritation with her faded, when he noticed her eyes fill up with tears. She bit her lip and looked down. A tear made its way down her face, and Heero's heart clenched.

"Look I…" He really didn't know what to say. She just looked so fragile, and he felt so guilty to know that he made her cry.

He squirmed a bit when he noticed her shoulders start to shake.

Finally, he knelt down in front of her. "What's wrong?" He asked, unconsciously wiping a tear from her face.

"I'm scared." She whispered.

Heero sighed. _Is that all?_ "I'm right here." He said. "Nobody's going to hurt you."

She looked at him doubtfully, and sniffled. "What about when you're not here?" She asked and was suddenly struck with the realization that she would be left all alone while he was at work. She was suddenly overcome with sobs again.

Heero just stared at her. Her fear was only halfway irrational, and he could see where she was coming from. There was nothing stopping her attacker's friends to break into their house while he was away. It was unlikely, but possible.

He looked at the clock, sighing a bit at how much time had passed.

He put a hand on her shoulder, intending to hint to her to lie down and go to sleep, but she misinterpreted his motion. Before Heero could react, she threw herself sobbing into his chest. Heero just froze, his hands up in surrender.

"I don't want to stay here." Audrey choked. She grabbed his shirt in her fists as if she held on for dear life. "Can we leave?" She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears, her eyes puffy, and her cheeks bright pink. She looked wholly vulnerable and pathetic. "Please." She whispered, her voice cracking a bit.

Heero could only nod. She brightened a bit, but continued to cry. She buried her face in his chest again.

Heero just sat, unmoving. Finally, he regained some of his wits. "Just go to sleep. We'll leave tomorrow. We've been here long enough." He tried to stand and go back to his pallet, but she wouldn't let go of his shirt. "What now?" He asked. "Are you still scared?"

She shrunk back, and nodded hesitantly.

"Why can you sleep at the hospital, but not here?"

"Drugs." She sniffled.

Heero scowled. "I'm not staying up all night with you." Heero said, finally deciding to be stern. _I thought the problem was solved. What more does she want?_

She scooted over a bit and patted the bed beside her.

He looked at her incredulously, and when he realized what she meant, he felt his face flush. "Wha…I'm not…No!"

She flinched and sniffled. "Why?"

Heero looked away. "Because…just…no."

With a dejected look, she lay down and curled up on her side. She pulled the covers over her head, but Heero could still hear her sniffling and see her shivering.

He squirmed again, and looked around the room.

"Fine." He conceded, and slid in next to her. "But only this once."

Heero, his face a burning scarlet, tried to stay as far as he could from her, but Audrey had other plans. She snuggled into his side, one hand fisted in his shirt. Heero just lay there stiffly, watching her as her breathing evened, and she finally fell asleep.

He wondered if he could slip away without her waking up, but decided he wouldn't risk it. He didn't feel like spending another twenty minutes trying to get her to go to sleep.

After a few minutes, Heero started to relax, and his feeling of embarrassment and distrust of physical contact started to reside. He would never admit it, but it wasn't so bad. She was warm, and her gentle breathing was actually quite soothing.

Finally, his eyelids became too heavy for him to keep them open, and he fell asleep.

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed!

Thanks to MMchik429, SylverSecret, moogle in paradaisu, and merlyn1382 for reviewing.

Please continue to Read and Review!


	8. What's This?

Chapter 8- What's this?

The only thing Heero recognized upon waking up was that his arm was asleep. Without opening his eyes or moving any more than necessary, he pulled his arm out from whatever was on top of it. Despite the painful tingles that were working their way up his arm, he was extremely comfortable. His other arm was draped over something warm, sweet smelling, and somewhat soft. He snuggled up closer to whatever it was and to his surprise, the thing wriggled in response.

Heero's eyes shot open and he leaped out of the bed. Heero felt a blush creep over his cheeks when he realized where he'd been. Audrey was asleep in the place next to where he'd been. She had probably been curled into his chest. His sudden movement seemed to disturb her, and he watched as she reached out to where he'd been.

He tore his eyes away from Audrey and glanced at the clock. He was shocked to see that it was almost 10 am.

_I…slept in…?_

Since there was nothing physically wrong with him, the idea seemed bizarre. Remembering that they were moving out, and that he would have to go and quit both their jobs, Heero quickly grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom to get dressed.

Audrey squirmed a bit, looking for her misplaced source of warmth, and when she couldn't find it, she reluctantly opened her eyes. After looking around groggily, she realized that Heero wasn't around. Panic began to build in the back of her mind, and she carefully sat up.

She jumped when she heard the shower turn on, but then realized that it was probably Heero. After checking the time, she painfully, pulled herself out of bed and limped over to the closet.

She pulled out a pair of loose jeans and a button up shirt, and got dressed as carefully as possible. She brushed her hair, wincing when she accidentally touched the bruise on the back of her head.

Finally, fully dressed and feeling completely worn out, she sat back on the edge of the bed and turned on the TV.

A few minutes later, Heero came out of the bathroom. He looked a tad surprised to see Audrey fully dressed and watching TV, but quickly regained his stoic look.

"Are you sure you want to leave?" He asked.

Audrey thought for a few seconds. She wanted nothing more than to get away from the city, but they both had obligations there. She bit her lip and looked down with a shrug.

Heero interpreted that as a yes. "Stay here." He said, heading toward the door. "I'll take care of everything."

Audrey's eyes widened. "Buh…but."

"Stay here." Heero repeated. "You're in no condition to go anywhere. I won't be gone long, so don't worry." He slipped his shoes on, pulled the door open. He paused before leaving, and looked back over his shoulder. Audrey looked like she was about to either jump up and run after him, or curl into a ball and cry. Heero hesitated with his hand still on the door knob. He didn't know if it was better to leave her by herself. He'd never dealt with anything like this—never had to be someone's emotional support. He knew that she was afraid to be left alone, but it could only be hazardous to her health if she went anywhere. Furthermore, she couldn't lean on him forever. Sure it was somewhat soon after her ordeal, but she was going to have to learn to rely on herself. "Nothing's going to happen." He finally said, hoping that it was assuring.

Audrey looked far from assured, but remained silent nonetheless. With a silent sigh, Heero stepped out and locked the door behind him.

Audrey just stared at the door, half expecting Heero to come back in and say that it was just a joke.

He didn't.

After waiting for a few minutes, she tore her eyes away from the door, berating herself for being so paranoid.

"Nothing's going to happen." She repeated Heero's words.

She looked around the room, her eyes wide as if expecting someone to pop out at her. She started humming, to take her mind off of her worry. Her humming trailed off, and she looked over to the clock.

Her eyes darted around the room again, before she snorted. "You're being stupid." She told herself, dragging herself off the bed. She again limped over to the closet, and started pulling things down. She grabbed her duffel bag as well. Even though every movement was painful, she couldn't just sit around. She had to do something to stop imagining the horrible things that could happen to her while she was alone. She figured she'd just as well pack.

Heero returned hardly two hours later. He hadn't had many problems quitting both of their jobs when he explained the situation (he'd had to stretch the truth a bit in regards to their relationship). He'd spent most of the two hours filling out paperwork (he'd stretched the truth a bit on that too.).

He'd been surprised for a second time that morning upon his return when he discovered that Audrey had packed all of their belongings—which were admittedly few—and was ready to leave.

Within minutes, Heero had packed the jeep, turned in the keys to the apartment, and they sped off out of the city.

* * *

"Well this is a nice, quaint, little town." Audrey said as she spotted the small red-roofed village stretching along the shoreline. They'd been riding for hours. She'd slept most of the time in random intervals. 

Heero just grunted in agreement. It truly a beautiful town—with the setting sun casting a beautiful glow on the sea and causing the town to almost shine. A small beach accented the town. The view sent an image of Relena flashing through his mind. He'd first met her on a beach, he recalled. That was almost a year and a half ago.

"It doesn't look like there'll be much repairing to do though." Audrey interrupted Heero's thoughts. "I don't think the destruction got this far."

"The destruction reached everywhere." Heero stated without looking over. The memories of the first time he'd met Relena brought memories of what he'd been doing at the time—or was on a mission to do.

Audrey didn't respond, but just turned to look at him. She had forgotten how touchy he was about the war. They hadn't talked about it for so long.

After a few minutes of silence, Audrey spoke again. "So do you suppose we'll stay? It is very pretty, but we can't help where help isn't needed."

He shrugged and glanced over at her. "We'll see."

"We do need to do a bit of shopping." Audrey said. "We could ask around for a place to spend the night."

"Hn."

Audrey just sighed at her untalkative partner and gave up on trying to make conversation. She had thought that he had finally warmed up to her. Apparently, he hadn't. He was even quieter than before.

Figuring that she should make herself useful instead of just sitting there, she busied herself with making a shopping list. She wrote her personal things on a piece of napkin from the glove compartment, and food and other supplies on another piece.

A few minutes later, Heero spotted a small store and pulled into the parking lot.

"Here." Audrey said handing him a list. "You get all this. I'll get my stuff and then ask around to try to find a hotel."

Heero just took the list she'd handed him and then grabbed the other one as well. "I'll get everything. You stay here." He shut the door and locked it before she could respond.

Audrey just watched silently as he walked off. She looked nervously around the parking lot. It was quickly growing dark, but there was nothing in this place that hinted at it being dangerous. After deciding that she was probably safe, she calmed down a bit. She turned the radio on and decided to just wait until Heero came back.

Heero returned around fifteen minutes later.

"There aren't any hotels here." He said tossing a few grocery bags into the back seat.

Audrey pouted a bit. It was such a pretty town; she would have liked to stay for a few days.

"But." Heero continued. "There are some houses built for troops a mile or two outside of town. No one owns them, and no one would care if anyone spent the night in one." He slid into the driver's seat and rubbed one of his hands. The action caught Audrey's attention and she noticed that the knuckles of his right hand were red. She just shrugged and decided not to ask why.

"So um…" She said. "Are we going to stay here?"

Heero's only answer was to start the engine. He looked in the rearview mirror, and his eye twitched. He quickly began to pull out of the parking lot.

Audrey noticed his odd behavior and she looked back toward the store. A young man was being escorted to a police car by two officers. "Did uh…did something happen in the store?"

Heero remained silent and continued to drive away.

Audrey leaned back and stared at him but decided not to ask anymore questions. She just hoped that he hadn't just gotten them into some kind of trouble.

They found the troop barracks rather quickly. The houses were clustered on the other side of a hill from the town but it was almost walking distance. There was a fence around the group of houses. The fence and also all of the houses were left unlocked, evidence of a hasty abandonment.

Most of houses were small with just bunk beds and a bathroom. There was another, though, which had probably been for the highest ranking officials. It was small like the others, but it had a good view of the sea and was a bit more homely. It had a small, but fully functioning kitchen and a sitting area with an old couch, a few chairs, and a TV. There were two bedrooms, each with two beds. There was also a bathroom with, to Audrey's great dismay, a shower instead of a bath.

The two only half unpacked. Heero checked around the house to be sure that all the doors and windows locked and that there weren't any hidden dangers around. Audrey, tired of being waited on hand and foot, immediately set out to find a place to wash their clothes. Heero, having failed to dissuade her from her task, went with her to make sure that she didn't get into trouble.

Audrey greatly appreciated that he went with her, especially since it was already dark. She also appreciated that he offered (or insisted) to carry everything for her.

Heero, on the other hand, figured that he looked like a fool walking around with bag full of dirty clothes and a jug of laundry detergent. He knew what it was like, though to want to be useful, but to not be able to help. That didn't stop him from believing that she wasn't capable of the things she wanted to do, however, especially after seeing the telltale signs that even some of the smallest tasks caused her pain. He frowned when he noticed that she was walking with a limp, but decided not to point it out.

The Laundromat was near the house they were staying in, so they didn't have to walk far. Heero left Audrey to deal with the laundry and went to check the area surrounding the house.

Two hours later, the two found themselves back inside. Their clothes were freshly clean, and there were officially no threats in or around the house.

They ate supper in silence; it was just some frozen food that they'd nuked. Heero was lost in his own thoughts, and Audrey was exhausted from the small task of doing the laundry.

After eating, Audrey decided that she would take a shower. She'd never in her life thought that taking a shower would ever be difficult, but now she believed differently. It was one of the most exhausting things she had to do. Most movements hurt her, and even the slightest pressure in some areas was excruciating. Also, the task of keeping her balance and not slipping required a lot of concentration. Although she knew she could manage, Heero made her leave the door unlocked just in case she had any trouble.

She set her pajamas beside the sink and stripped down. She turned the shower on before she got in. That turned out to be a very good move on her part, for as soon as she turned the water on, a huge black spider crawled out of the drain.

* * *

Heero was sitting on the couch flipping through the TV channels. He was trying to find the news, but all he could catch were commercials. 

Suddenly, he heard a terrified scream. He bolted to his feet and nearly flew toward the bathroom. The door flew open and hit the wall with a loud thud.

The noise caused Audrey to scream again and whip around. It took a second for both of them to register that she was completely naked, but when they did, their faces turned into tomatoes.

Heero jumped back out of the bathroom. His face was beet red, and his eyes were as wide as saucers. He flattened himself against the wall trying to get his breathing and body under control.

A second later, Audrey appeared beside him, wearing nothing but a towel.

Heero flinched away, and just stared at her almost helplessly. She returned the look.

"There's a spider in the shower." Audrey said as if the spider would be responsible for the apocalypse.

Heero stared at her, as he processed the information. His face slowly returned to a semblance of its normal color, although with her standing as she was so close to him, it was fairly difficult.

"That's it?" He asked flatly.

"It's really big." She defended.

Heero rolled his eyes and marched into the bathroom. In one swift movement, he grabbed a piece of toilet paper, squashed the spider, and threw it in the garbage.

Silently, he walked back out of the bathroom, giving wide berth to Audrey. He avoided looking at her so he didn't notice that her face was as red as his.

Audrey went back into the bathroom. She shut the door and chuckled embarrassedly. Her chuckles turned into full scale laughter, when she remembered the look on Heero's face. She quickly sobered, however, because every breath sent pain through her ribs. She still thought it was funny, though.

Heero sat on the couch with his eyes closed. He was trying to will the image of Audrey out of his mind. He found it more difficult than he'd expected. He'd never seen a naked woman before, but now that he had, he found it hard to stop thinking about it what he'd seen. What was worse was the way certain parts of his anatomy were reacting.

After a bit of intense meditation, he snapped his eyes open. His face was still red, and a light sweat was forming on his forehead. Thankfully, besides that, he was back to normal.

He looked over to the closed door, and frowned a bit when he heard her laughing.

"She'll be the death of me." He mumbled.

* * *

A big thanks to AngelicRoses, ANBUszechuane, ConquerorAlexander, merlyn1382, Sylver Secret, and moogle in paradaisu for reviewing!

Input is always appreciated, so please R&R!


	9. Big Daddy Heero

Chapter 9- Big Daddy Heero

Heero woke up early the next morning. Although there were two bedrooms in the house, since Audrey was still afraid to sleep in a room alone, he and Audrey had stayed in the same room. Heero didn't mind _very_ much, but he still felt significantly awkward after their earlier encounter.

With the sun just beginning to rise, Heero left Audrey asleep, and headed into town to get gas and a map of the area.

It hardly took a half an hour to finish his errands, and he had just left the small shop when a voice stopped him.

"Are you the man that hit my son?"

Heero froze in place. He had been hoping to get out of town before this particular incident occurred. He turned—his face emotionless as he stared at the person who'd addressed him.

A woman, probably in her late thirties, stood there looking nervous.

"It was self defense." He stated, and then, assuming that the conversation was over turned and walked back to the jeep.

"I…I wasn't accusing you of anything." The woman continued, stepping closer to him. The woman looked as though she were afraid that he might hit her as well.

He turned towards her again, but remained silent wondering why she was still there if not to accuse him of anything.

"I heard how you handled him, and I was wondering if you…if you could help him."

"Help him?" Heero asked. A hint of curiosity and also astonishment worked its way through his usually hard mask.

"You see. He's kind of going through a tough time. His father was killed in the war. They had been very close. He used to be a sweet kid, but after his father died, he has just been angry and violent." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "I…I just can't handle him anymore; no one can. I'm afraid of the things he might do. I know he's not a bad kid, but he's just so lost and angry, and he's been getting into fights recently. He needs help."

"And you think I can help him?"

"You're my last hope. I'm not saying that you have to sit down and talk to him, but could he just stay with you for a while. I know that sooner or later he'll come around and be the good kid I know he can be, but I'm afraid that before that can happen, he'll do something that he can't go back from. I'm not asking you to do this for free, of course. My husband left me a good bit of money."

"Why not send him to a psychiatrist?"

"I've tried. He won't talk to them. I can't think of anything else to do."

Heero thought about her offer and couldn't help but be amused at the absurdity of it. "You want to pay me to beat up your son." He stated in clarification.

"Not to beat him up…per se…more to take him in and…discipline him…put him on the right track."

"Take him in?"

"I wouldn't want him roaming the streets...or in my house after I'd paid someone to 'beat him up.' Did I mention I'd pay you?"

He nodded.

"And…would you be interested?"

"I have to talk it over with someone"

The woman nodded and handed him a phone number. She looked at him pleadingly before hurrying away.

* * *

Heero entered the house and headed straight to the bedroom. He was greeted with the sight of Audrey hurriedly scurrying around the room and doing last-minute packing. She didn't even look up at the sound of Heero's entrance, but only quickly mumbled that she was almost ready. 

"Stop." Heero ordered, shutting the door quietly and striding toward her.

She obeyed, placed the stack of newly folded clothes onto the bed, and half-turned towards him, casting a confused look in his direction.

"I may have a job." He stated. Audrey remained silent, waiting for details. He didn't provide her with any, but only corrected his statement. "Kind of."

"What do you mean 'kind of?'" She asked.

"Well," He started pulling her duffel bag off of the bed and onto the floor and motioning her to sit in the newly vacated spot. She again obeyed, although, he noticed, with some pain. He stayed silent for a few seconds trying to think of a good way to explain the very odd deal he had been given. He decided to just be blunt. "I hit a kid yesterday."

"WHAT?!" Audrey shouted, and Heero quickly put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from jumping off the bed and motioned for her to let him explain. She glared back but didn't talk. Heero offhandedly noticed, although not for the first time, how she was not as defiant as she had been before she was attacked.

"The kid I hit is some local badass who has been causing trouble around town since his father died. He tried to pick my pocket so I broke his nose." He figured that his explanation was pretty clear.

"Aww. Poor thing." Audrey said, imagining a cute, golden haired five year old living like a street urchin.

Heero rolled his eyes.

"But umm…what is the 'kind of job?'"

"His mother wants to send him to live with me…us…so that I can discipline him."

Audrey imagined a woman bundled in rags trying to sell flowers on a snowy street. "I think it's a great idea." She said standing, although with a slight grimace that only someone who was used to hiding pain would be able to see. Therefore Heero did notice, and it suddenly struck him that he didn't want some punk being around her when she was so fragile.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Heero asked her, hoping that she wasn't serious. He was getting less fond of the idea by the second. "His own mother is afraid of him."

"Well it isn't the kind of work we usually do," She began unpacking again. "but I think that someone needs to help this kid. It might not be that bad."

"So…" He looked around the house before turning his gaze back to her.

"I think we should do it. We've got nowhere else to be, and I would feel kind of guilty just leaving someone so desperate."

He sighed, letting her know she had won. Mumbling that he would have to teach her how to shoot a gun, he dug the phone number that the woman had given him out of his pocket.

* * *

Audrey had just finished arranging the spare room for their new charge when she heard the front door open. Heero had decided that he would continue to sleep in the room with her for reasons that he wasn't entirely clear about. She didn't mind, though. She felt safer when he was around. 

The only reason that she had to be unsure of the situation was that the kid might try to sneak out. Heero had rigged homemade alarm systems to the kid's window and bedroom door to ensure that he didn't.

Audrey walked into the main room to greet them.

A rather scruffy looking boy with long curly hair and baggy clothes walked in, a duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. Audrey was startled to realize that the 'kid' Heero had told her about was taller than she was.

_Where's the cute five year old?_ She wondered before brushing her shock and slight uneasiness away. She stepped forward with a smile. "Hi." She said extending her hand. "I'm Audrey."

The boy simply glared at her. He seemed to be more displeased with his situation than he was with her, but the look still frightened her.

Audrey's smile faded and was replaced with a look of anxiety. She was about to take a step back when the boy stumbled forward. The boy whipped around to glare at Heero. Heero had only nudged him, but the boy did not like to be touched--especially by the man who had broken his nose the day before. "Courtesy." Heero said giving the boy a mocking smile. The boy growled, and Heero's face quickly took on his death glare.

The boy took a step back and turned tensely to Audrey whose hand was still raised as she dumbly watched the display. "Jonathan." He said taking her hand and giving it a quick, somewhat rough, shake.

He let go and took a step back.

"Your room's that way." Heero pointed to the spare room. "Make yourself at home."

Jonathan just grunted and stomped off.

"I thought you said he was a kid!" Audrey said staring at Jonathan's retreating figure.

"Fourteen." Heero said with a shrug and then scowled as a loud slam echoed throughout the tiny house.

"He's really...big." She pointed out, still shocked by the fact.

Heero looked puzzled for a second. Jonathan was quite a bit shorter than Heero, but he already had an inch on Audrey. Heero just shrugged again before tearing his eyes away from the door to look at her. His gaze softened as he picked up light scratches still on her face. "Don't let him think he's scaring you. I'm not going to let him hurt you. Stay in control." He stated before walking away.

* * *

Before Heero picked Jonathan up, he had found a job at a power plant a few miles outside of the town. He didn't think he could just sit around the house all day long—especially with Jonathan there. The boy was more irritating that Duo at his worst. Of course he wasn't going to leave Jonathan alone with Audrey. He would come to work too. There was benefit in the situation. Jonathan would learn the value of hard work, Audrey would have time to rest and recover, and Heero would have a little extra money in his pocket. 

Therefore, the next morning, Jonathan was awoken at 5 am, and when he didn't cooperate, was roughly tossed out of bed and ordered to get dressed. They ate breakfast at 5:15 am, and by 5:30 am, he was sitting in the jeep beside Heero heading out to the power plant, griping the whole way.

"My mom's not paying you to turn me into some work horse." He said leaning grumpily against the door.

"No." Heero said. "She's paying me to teach you a few lessons about life." Heero wasn't entirely sure if he was the best person to be teaching life lessons, but he had accepted a mission, and he would fulfill it the best he could.

"And how will getting a job do that?" He asked sarcastically. "Aren't you supposed to be reading me nursery rhymes or something?"

"The best I can figure, you are a spoiled brat that is used to blowing money you didn't earn. While you live with me, you will earn your money."

"And if I happen to get fired?"

"You don't eat." Heero said. "That attitude is the next thing to go. You will learn how to respect people."

* * *

They didn't get back until around six, and they were greeted by the smell of supper. 

"Right on time." Audrey said. She placed a large bowl of spaghetti beside a bowl of breadsticks on the already set kitchen table.

Heero sat down and began spooning spaghetti into his plate. He was slightly nervous about how it would taste. During all the time he'd spent with Audrey she had never cooked for him. He didn't want to be rude though, so he tentatively took a bite. To his surprise, it was actually pretty good.

Jonathan plopped himself at the table rudely and reached for the bowl of spaghetti.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked grabbing his arm. This kid really irked him. He'd never before seen anyone quite so uncouth.

"Eating. Supper." Jonathan said as though Heero had mental deficiencies.

Heero narrowed his eyes. Jonathan was trying to get a rise out of him and it was working. He tried to repress his rising anger, but couldn't help being a little mean. "Not this supper." Heero tossed his hand back to him calmly.

Audrey's eyes stayed glued to her food.

"What?" Jonathan said incredulously. "Why not? I ate breakfast. And lunch."

"Both of which were necessary for you to perform on the job. You are no longer at work. Remember our little talk this morning." Heero told him.

Jonathan growled. "I haven't gotten paid yet!" He said. "Am I just not supposed to eat till Friday? It's not like _she_ works." He pointed to Audrey who tried to make herself a little smaller and less visible.

"She cooked." Heero stated. "But I'll make you a deal. If you wash the dishes, you can eat."

"That's bullshit!" He yelled standing.

"Have a nice night then." Heero said calmly. He spooned a little more spaghetti into his plate in hopes of changing his mind.

Jonathan was determined not to give in. "Fine." He said, and stomped to his room. "I'LL STARVE!" With that, he slammed himself into his room. Heero's eye twitched as the sound reverberated through the room, but he continued to eat. He had finished within a few minutes, and after putting his plate in the sink, went to take a shower.

Audrey was left in the kitchen to pick up the leftovers and clean up. Standing at the sink, she hadn't heard Jonathan's approach over the sound of the running water, and so she was surprised enough to jump when he appeared right beside her.

"Heero said…" Audrey started, but Jonathan interrupted her.

"Fuck Heero."

Audrey was momentarily stunned by his language, but then shook her head and stepped toward him. "You really should listen. We're only trying to help you."

He narrowed his eyes at her before yanking the refrigerator door open. He came out with the leftover spaghetti. "You're not trying to help me." He growled pulling a drawer open to find a fork. It was the wrong drawer. Audrey knew what he was looking for and so slowly moved to stand in front of the utensil drawer. _Stay in control._ Heero's words echoed in her head.

She frowned at him as he continued to look around for something to eat with. Finally, he came to a stop in front of Audrey.

Audrey just stared at him without moving. _Control._ She took a deep breath. "Look! I know you're angry and confused. But you need to remember that other people are hurting too. Everyone was affected by the war. Not only you."

_What is up with these people?_ He thought, hunger adding to his already bad mood. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" He yelled shoving her out of the way.

Across the house, the shower cut off, but neither of them heard it.

Audrey moved to stand in front of him, and snatched the spaghetti out of his hand. "Like your mother." She said. "How do you think she feels that so soon after losing her husband, her son has become some street punk who—"

Jonathan growled and pulled his arm back, his hand balled into a fist. He didn't intend to hit her—just to scare her a little.

The motion wasn't interpreted that way.

Audrey's eyes widened in terror, and she stumbled back a step squinting her eyes shut.

Terror froze her mind, and a second later, the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed throughout the room. Curiously, though she felt no pain.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see Heero, with hair still dripping wet and only a pair of pajama pants on. A complete death glare, one that touched every feature of his face and even had an effect on his breathing was directed at Jonathan. Jonathan himself was bleeding from his nose, his arm in Heero's iron grip.

Heero cast a momentary glance at Audrey, and his features softened a bit upon seeing that she was unharmed.

He turned back to Jonathan, his glare in full force again. "You want to hit somebody?" He asked, his voice a lot calmer than his face. He'd had just about enough of this kid, and the idea that he would try to hurt Audrey had him seeing red. He tugged Jonathan toward the front door. "Come on. You can try to hit me." With that, they both disappeared outside.

* * *

They came in a few minutes later, Heero looking stoic. Jonathan had a black eye forming and was nursing his stomach. He sent a glare to Audrey, who had, after finishing with the dishes, decided to try to read her book. She hadn't read a single sentence since they'd left, only sat on the couch staring at the pages. 

Jonathan turned to look at Heero, who gave him an expectant look. With a disgusted growl, he turned back to Audrey.

"I'm sorry." He said almost sincerely, before tearing off to his room and slamming the door.

Heero strode over to the door and wrenched it open. "Slam that door again!" He growled sending a glare to Jonathan whose face was buried in his pillow.

After shutting the door, Heero came back over and collapsed at the other end of the couch. He turned the TV on and stared blankly at the screen. It was obvious to Audrey that he wasn't watching it.

"Um thanks." Audrey said after a few minutes of silence. She just couldn't read right now. "For…you know…and the apology too. That was a nice touch."

Heero nodded distractedly and the room lapsed back into silence. Both were lost in their own thoughts. "I can send him back." He said finally without looking at her.

Audrey blinked. He was willing to give up on a "mission" for her sake. The thought was oddly touching, but she wouldn't stand for it. "No." She said. "I don't think he'll do it again." Her voice sounded surer than she felt.

Heero finally looked at her, for the first time since he'd come back in. "He won't." He said. Clicking off the TV, he stood and strode to the bedroom.

Audrey decided to leave him alone for a while. She sat and stared at the two doors for a few minutes just trying to clear her head. The idea that Jonathan would hit her had shaken her up a bit, but she figured that she had probably pushed him too far. She felt sorry for the boy. He needed help more than he realized, and she had probably just made it worse.

* * *

Jonathan lay in bed thinking about what Audrey had told him. Deep down when he had been getting into fights, and stealing and vandalizing things, he had known that his mother disapproved. He just hadn't really considered that he had been causing her more pain by doing the things he did. He looked over at the picture of their entire family, taken a few months before his father was killed, and it suddenly struck him how much his father would disapprove of the things he'd been doing. 

Suddenly, there was a light knock on his door, and Audrey poked her head in. "Want some ice?" She asked holding up a towel with the ice presumably wrapped in it.

He just stared at her, surprised that she wanted to help him.

She just stood in the doorway, looking afraid to take another step inside. Neither moved or spoke for a few seconds, and then Audrey placed the ice on the dresser beside the door and quickly left.

Jonathan stared at the ice for a while. _We're only trying to help you._ He recalled her saying.

With a tired sigh, he got up to get the ice.

Audrey went straight back into her and Heero's room, got her clothes, and headed to the shower. Heero had been staring at his computer screen when she'd come in, and although he'd intended to ignore her, he'd noticed that she was slightly nervous. He'd shut down his laptop, but continued to sit and stare at his computer until he heard water running in the bathroom. Then he'd stood and quietly made his way to Jonathan's room.

Without knocking, he walked in. He'd intended to just check to see if he was there and then turn on the alarms, but he noticed that Jonathan had a towel with presumably ice in it on his eye.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

"What, the ice?" Jonathan said with a chuckle. He was lying on his back, and didn't bother moving to look at Heero. "From your girl. I think she has the hots for me."

"I thought I told you to leave her alone." Heero said darkly.

"She brought it to me." He said. "By the way…nice piece of meat you got there."

"That includes comments." Heero said. "And for your information, she is not _my girl_."

He put his hand on the doorknob.

"You were a soldier weren't you?" Jonathan said suddenly, disgust was clear in his voice.

"I was." Heero didn't move.

"And you think that makes you better than me." He sat up now, glaring at Heero. "Better than everyone. YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST GO AROUND HURTING PEOPLE, THAT BEING A SOLDIER GIVES YOU A LICENSE TO DO THAT?!"

Heero took a step forward before saying calmly. "I'm better than you, not because I was a soldier, but because I have _respect_ for people and their lives. I didn't kill for the fun of it. It was because I had to, so people like you could have the freedom to be spoiled."

"Spoiled?" Jonathan was suddenly standing, and the ice was on the floor. "My father was killed by people like you! For all I know, you could have done it, and you have the nerve to act like I should be grateful to you for something?"

"We all had losses." Heero said. "Your father knew the risks, but he also knew that he was fighting for a cause. You...you who should believe that he died for something, have completely given up on trying to have a better life. That's what he died for, and you're throwing it away." Heero turned toward the door and cast one last look at Jonathan. "Go to sleep." He said. He punched in the code that activated the alarms, and then left.

Heero headed back to his room and collapsed in his bed with a sigh. He didn't even bother turning the light on. "_My father was killed by people like you!" _Heero ran a hand over his face.

_Have I really destroyed that many lives? _He thought. _How many children have lost a parent because of me?_

"…_you think that makes you better than me…that you can just go around hurting people…"_

_How on earth can I tell that boy how to live, when I played a part in destroying his life? _He rolled over on his stomach.

The door opened quietly, and he heard Audrey's light footsteps as she walked in. "You shouldn't listen to him." She said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"You heard that?" Heero mumbled into his pillow.

Audrey's lamp clicked on, and she heard her bed squeak as she sat on it. "He was yelling pretty loud."

Heero just grunted.

"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. You're not responsible for anything that's happened to him. You're not responsible for the war. You were trained to do something and you followed orders. You fought with honor for the good of mankind. If anything, he should be grateful to you because he's alive right now. He's just an angry kid, and the most you can do for him is to help him get back on track." Her bed squeaked again, and the lamp clicked off. "G'night." She mumbled sleepily.

Heero remained silent. He felt slightly better after her little speech, but there was still a lot on his mind. He knew that she was right about him having to help Jonathan, but he wasn't sure if he could do it. He seemed to just be making the kid angrier.

His mind swirled and warred against itself for hours before he finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

Whoo! I finally updated. I hope you all enjoyed that. Thanks to AngelicRoses,SylverSecret, moogle in paradaisu, and ANBUszechuane for reviewing.

Reviews always welcome.


	10. Makeover

Chapter 10- Makeover

The next few mornings went somewhat like the first. Jonathan was forcefully pulled out of bed. The two boys ate a nice hot breakfast and headed off to the power plant, not to return again until nearly 6 o'clock. If any conversations occurred during the rides to and from work, they were not pleasant.

When they returned to the house, they were immediately met with the smell of supper. On this particular day, that supper consisted of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Heero quickly slid into his chair and started serving himself. Jonathan stood near the door a while, his stomach rumbling. He had gone without supper for four days straight, and each night, he'd been miserable. While at first he'd been stubbornly determined to show Heero that he wouldn't bend, he was beginning to realize that Heero didn't care whether or not he ate.

Finally he rolled his eyes and slid into a chair.

Heero glanced over at him.

"I'll wash dishes." Jonathan mumbled before he served himself as well.

Heero hid a small smirk and continued to eat his supper.

* * *

Audrey ended up having to give Jonathan a lesson on how to wash dishes, because he'd never done it before. She was a stickler for having such things clean, and it took a while before he got her system down. 

Heero sat on the couch the whole time watching the news, and occasionally glancing over at them. He still hadn't gotten interested in any of the other shows on the television, but he liked to keep in touch with the latest activities whenever he could. That wasn't often though, because it wasn't often that they were anywhere with cable or news.

Jonathan swiped his hair out of his face for what must have been the twentieth time as he put the last of the dishes into the cupboard.

Audrey had noticed how he continually had to do that, and finally brought herself around to commenting on it. "You need a haircut. Here. Sit down" She stated motioning him to a chair and digging a pair of scissors out of a drawer. Jonathan looked at her suspiciously, and then turned to Heero who had looked over at the sound of someone talking. Audrey did as well but for a different reason. She studied his hair which was getting close to reaching his chin. "You could use one too."

Heero raised his hand to his hair, and then shook his head. He didn't want her anywhere near his head with any sharp objects.

"I'm not going to buzz it off." She said putting her hands on her hips. "Just a little trim." He continued to stare at her. "You could put pigtails if you'd prefer." She joked, earning a chuckle from Jonathan. "I'll even braid it for you."

A sudden image of himself with Duo's hairstyle popped into his head, and he ran his hand through his hair again. It was indeed pretty long. He stood and went to lean against the counter to see what she did to Jonathan. He wasn't agreeing until he saw how good she was with scissors.

"Sit." He ordered Jonathan who was still standing idly by.

Jonathan scowled. "Why do you get a choice and I don't?" He asked moodily.

"Because this is my house." Heero didn't technically own the house, but Jonathan didn't know that.

"Maybe I'll just leave then." He said heading toward the door.

"And maybe I'll break your hand if it touches that doorknob." Heero said with a stern glare.

Jonathan halted in his tracks and turned to see if Heero was serious. He was quickly convinced that he was by the glare he was receiving. He was still aching from the last time he had made Heero angry, and he was sure, his eye wouldn't get its normal color back for quite some time. With a growl that showed he wasn't happy about it, he slouched into the chair.

Within a few minutes, Jonathan's long messy hair was transformed into a nice neat cut. The sides and back were cut short and smooth, but Audrey had left a little more on the top so that it would curl a little, not enough, though, for it to be bushy. "You're absolutely adorable!" Audrey said taking a step back to admire her work.

Jonathan looked at the mess of hair that was still on the floor and then nervously got up to check his reflection. He wouldn't say adorable, but he did agree that he looked better than before. He turned to look expectantly at Heero, and noticed that Audrey was doing the same thing.

Heero looked between the two, before sighing and sitting in the chair that Jonathan had just vacated. "Not too short." He ordered.

"Don't worry." Audrey said beginning to trim the back. "It will be the same, only neater."

Jonathan came closer to watch, and decided to make a game out of it by occasionally pulling a horrified or shocked face to try to make Heero nervous. Heero just glared at him, not amused. He nervously wondered what was taking Audrey so long.

Finally, she finished and he quickly went over to the mirror to see what she had done. He was relieved to find that it was almost the same as he'd had it when he'd first came to earth, only slightly shorter.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" Audrey asked, grabbing a paper towel to clean the floor.

Heero just shrugged and headed for the shower.

Jonathan headed into his room a few seconds later leaving Audrey alone. Audrey was silently grateful. He was significantly nicer to her since Heero had roughed him up (something that could not be said about his attitude with Heero), but she still felt awkward around the young teen.

She didn't want to be afraid of him, and she knew that, at one time, she wouldn't have been. Since she was attacked, however, she'd had a hard time being around guys—barring Heero of course. Still, even though he was only two years younger than she was, he was just a kid. He needed room to make a few mistakes—not horrible life changing ones, but smaller things. He also needed some sympathy. And since he was certainly not going to get any of that with Heero, she was the only other option.

* * *

Weeks passed, and Jonathan was slowly losing his attitude. He'd calmed down significantly, and although he still made a game out of irritating Heero, he usually did it for fun, not out of anger. They occasionally had a few flare ups, but they hadn't gotten into any physical fights since that night. 

Heero was slowly coming to like Jonathan—or at least to hate him less. He still hadn't forgotten the things Jonathan had said all those weeks ago, but he was starting to think that Jonathan had changed his attitude.

Audrey was healing quickly. It became less painful for her to move, and she was able to do more things without becoming tired. She still stayed home all day however, on strict orders not to over-exert herself.

There were other changes taking place, however, as Heero was reminded when he awoke one morning to find that his shoes were too tight. They had been somewhat snug lately, but now they were downright painful. The only other shoes he had were dress shoes, though, so he decided that he would wear them anyway.

He walked into the kitchen and sat at the table with a grimace.

"What's wrong with you?" Jonathan asked through a mouthful of food. "Got a hemorrhoid?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Audrey reprimanded although not harshly. She studied Heero for a second. "You're not sick are you?"

Heero looked up at her and then shook his head.

Audrey sat down and both she and Jonathan continued to stare at Heero, waiting for him to say what the problem was.

Heero didn't notice. He figured their conversation was over. He stared down at his food as he ate and tried to wiggle his toes so that his shoes might stretch a bit.

After a minute or two of this, he glanced up, wondering why the two were so quiet. They usually had some meaningless nonsense to babble or pick at him about. He froze when he noticed that they were both just staring at him. It was kind or creepy. He swallowed. "What?"

Jonathan shoveled in another spoonful of eggs as Audrey started to speak. Neither of them looked away from him for a second. "Well, you came in here looking miserable, but you won't tell us what's wrong."

Jonathan nodded looking curious, but then got a sly look. "Maybe he couldn't sleep last night because—"

Audrey cut him off. She didn't really feel like hearing the rest of what he had to say. Usually such sentences ended in an awkward note between Heero and herself. "Jonathan don't talk with your mouth full, and please be pleasant."

"I'm sure it _was_ pleasant." He grinned sleazily and looked between Audrey and Heero.

Heero glared at him, and Audrey tried her best to ignore him.

"But seriously, are you okay?" She asked.

Heero sighed and looked down to hide a blush. "My shoes are too small."

Jonathan snorted spraying eggs all over the table. He started choking, but the other two ignored him.

"Well that makes sense." Audrey said. "You're still growing. We can go tonight and get you some new shoes, maybe some pants too." She paused and looked over at Jonathan who was laughing and choking all at once. "We should probably get Jonathan some new clothes too so he doesn't look like such a bum all the time."

Jonathan stopped laughing and looked down at his clothes. It was one of his favorite outfits, or at least it used to be when he wanted everyone to think he was dangerous.

Heero studied Jonathan's outfit as well. "Yeah." He said. "Maybe something without chains all over it. Even if he won't act civilized, he can still look it."

Jonathan scowled. "I'm right here. And who said I wanted new clothes?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Heero asked innocently. "You look terrible. You'd be doing yourself a favor by buying new clothes."

"You want _me_ to buy them?"

"Of course." Heero stated.

"Then _absolutely_ not."

"You'll get new clothes." Heero promised.

"No I won't." They both glared at each other before Audrey broke the silence.

"It's five thirty."

The two boys glanced simultaneously at the clock, and deciding that they would finish their argument on the way to work, got up and left.

* * *

They returned the same time as usual and ate supper. Jonathan headed off to take a shower. Heero waited for the shower to start running, and then headed into Jonathan's room. His face was set with determination, but there was also a hint of mischief. 

Audrey noticed the odd change in behavior and followed him curiously. She peered through Jonathan's doorway, to see Heero rummaging though Jonathan's clothes and tossing certain articles into a pile.

"What are you doing?" Audrey asked.

Heero looked over his shoulder before turning back to continue digging through clothes. "You'll see."

Finally, he was satisfied. He grabbed all of the clothes in the pile and straightened up. The mischief was more evident on his face now, and he was almost giddy with excitement.

Audrey was more than a little disturbed by his behavior. She tailed behind him silently as he walked into their room. He started digging through his things and threw a few objects that Audrey couldn't see into a bag. Afterwards, he went into the kitchen and grabbed a few things off the shelves. With Audrey still following silently behind, he strode outside and around the house. He got a good distance away from the house and threw all the clothes on the ground. Still, he made sure that he was right in view of the bathroom window.

Audrey watched curiously, but with a small hint of dread as Heero pulled started dumping different powders into a bag. He stuck a string into the bag and then strapped a few more things onto it.

"Back up." Heero said. He gently grabbed her arm and led her back to the house. He leaned against the wall, right outside the bathroom window.

"What…?"

"Shh." Heero cut her off. He seemed to be listening to something.

Audrey listened too, but all she could hear was the shower running. After a few minutes, the shower cut off.

Heero smirked and pulled something out of his pocket. He looked over to Audrey. "You might want to close your ears."

Audrey did so, but with a good bit of confusion. She looked over at the object in his hand. It appeared to be just a metal stick with a red button on the end.

Heero calmly pressed the button. Not a second later, the sound of an explosion cut through the air. Audrey gasped, but Heero just stood there calmly.

A second later, Jonathan came running around the house. He was still wet and had nothing but pajama pants on.

"What happened?!" He demanded staring at the two, his eyes wide.

Audrey just stood there, her mouth hanging open. Heero, however, looked over calmly. "Your clothes exploded." He explained.

Jonathan gaped at him. "My what…what?"

"Your clothes." Heero pointed to the small fires that were now scattered around the yard. Scraps of clothing were falling from the sky. "I guess you'll need new ones."

Jonathan's eyes widened in disbelief, and he ran over toward the mess. He stopped when he came across twisted metal. He recognized the twisted metal as one of the chains from one of his pairs of pants. A scrap of one of his shirts drifted down and landed on his shoulder. Jonathan picked it up and stared at it for a second. Then he turned and stormed back over to Heero. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!!"

"I got rid of those awful clothes for you." Heero stated.

Jonathan nearly had steam coming out of his ears. He glared at Heero for a solid minute and then turned to Audrey. "Were you in on this too?"

She stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, but Heero butted in. "She knew nothing about it." He pushed off of the wall and headed over to the remnants of the explosions. Most of the small fires had already gone out. He stomped out the rest of them while Audrey and Jonathan looked on.

"I can't believe he did that." Jonathan mumbled.

Audrey nodded. She couldn't believe it herself. "Yeah. But there's no use being mad about it now." She raised a hand to signal for Jonathan to let her continue. "If we hurry, we can make it to the store and have enough time to shop before it closes. Could you go get dressed?"

Jonathan stared at her. "You're on his side?"

Audrey looked at him. "I would prefer to call my position neutral. I do think you need some decent clothes, but I didn't vote to have your old clothes blown up."

Jonathan sighed. "I don't have any money."

"I'll spot you." Audrey said and started heading toward the front of the house.

Jonathan sent one last glare to Heero before following.

* * *

Not a half hour later, the three found themselves in the middle of a supermarket. 

"Well I guess I'll go grab some food." Audrey said trying to orient herself. She finally spotted the food section. "You guys behave." She said before walking off.

Heero and Jonathan exchanged a glance and just headed off toward the clothes.

On the way there, Jonathan spotted a few kids he knew. He grinned deviously, his mind already formulating a plan for revenge.

Heero hardly noticed Jonathan aside from checking every now and then to make sure he was close by. He shuffled through the rack of pants. He wasn't entirely sure what size he was, so he grabbed a few and headed toward the fitting room.

"Stay here." He told Jonathan before shutting the door.

Jonathan stood for nearly a second before taking off in the direction that he'd seen the kids earlier. They hadn't been friends, exactly, but they'd had an understanding.

The three teenagers, two guys and a girl, looked shocked to see Jonathan approach. They were all wearing dark clothes. They boys had baggy pants, and the girl had an extremely short skirt, a corset shirt, and some stiletto heels.

"Where have you been?" One of the guys asked. "I heard your mom sent you away to get straightened out."

Jonathan looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one else was around. "I don't have much time to talk, but I need you guys to do me a favor…"

* * *

Heero came out of the dressing room to see Jonathan dutifully looking through the racks of pants. He placed the pants that hadn't fit back onto the rack and slung the ones he'd decided to keep over his arm. 

"Hurry up." He said to Jonathan, and went to grab a few shirts. Jonathan rolled his eyes at his back and continued to look through the clothes.

About an hour later, the three walked out of the store, Heero in the lead, Jonathan pushing the cart, and Audrey close behind.

Heero stopped when he noticed a girl dressed in skimpy black clothing leaning against the jeep. The other two stopped right behind him. The girl pushed off of the truck and walked seductively over to Heero. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She rubbed her leg against his.

Heero took a step back and tried to gently pull her off him, but she wouldn't let go.

Audrey cocked an eyebrow as the girl whispered something in Heero's ear. She wondered if Heero knew her.

Jonathan just leaned on the basket's handle, trying to hide a smirk. This would be quite a show.

Heero finally succeeded in pulling one of her arms from his neck, but he didn't get far. She pressed herself closer to him and snuck her hand around to squeeze his backside. Heero jumped and finally, roughly pushed her away. The girl fell with a thud to the ground.

Before Heero had time to ask the girl what she was doing, he heard someone shouting.

Two boys dressed in black were running over, and they looked mad. Heero just stared at them and then looked back to the girl. He had no idea what was going on.

The first boy reached him and didn't waste a second in swinging his fist toward Heero's face. Heero caught the boy's fist, but the other boy had run around him and grabbed him in a strangle hold. Heero wriggled, trying to break free, but the second boy punched him in the stomach. He followed with a punch to the face. The girl pulled herself off the pavement and strode in front of Heero. The second boy backed up, and for a second, Audrey thought the girl might break up the fight. She didn't. Instead, she drove her knee into Heero's groin.

Heero doubled over in pain.

"STOP IT!" Audrey screamed. She was scared now, but not for herself. Three to one was not fair. "Jonathan do something!" She pleaded.

Jonathan looked at her as if she had lost her mind, and then turned back to watch the boy punch Heero again.

Heero was struggling to get free. The boy that was holding him was weaker than he was, but Heero was in so much pain that he couldn't put much force behind his struggles.

Audrey looked around frantically. There were no police in sight, and Jonathan wasn't moving to help. He even appeared to be enjoying the show. She knew she had to do something. Heero would never let this happen to her, if he were around to prevent it. Still, she would be no help if she jumped in to try to pull the boys off him.

Suddenly, she got an idea. She reached into the basket and pulled out two cans of peas. She hurried around behind the boy that was holding Heero, and threw it as hard as she could at the boy's head. She'd never had a very good arm, but at such close range, it was hard to miss.

She didn't waste a second in throwing the second can toward the other boy. Both cans hit their targets, and the boys stumbled backwards howling in pain.

This was all Heero needed to wrench himself free. He pushed the boy in front of him away causing him to crash to the ground. Heero quickly turned to the boy who'd been holding him and drove his fist into his face.

Heero turned back to the other boy. He was holding his nose which was gushing blood from when the can had hit him. He looked in terror at Heero as he loomed over him. Heero looked as if he could kill the boy.

The girl ran over to see if the first boy was okay. He was out cold. "JONATHAN!" She yelled looking frantically over at him. "Make him stop!"

"Yeah man!" The other boy said as he scooted backwards away from Heero. "You never said he was this tough!"

Heero stopped in his tracks and slowly looked over to Jonathan. Jonathan just stood there innocently.

Heero's eyes narrowed in anger as he glared at the boy. "Get out of here." He said to the teenagers, although he didn't move his eyes from Jonathan. The girl and the boy who was still conscious quickly grabbed the unconscious boy and scurried off. Jonathan's innocent look quickly turned anxious. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead.

Heero didn't speak for a few seconds. He couldn't find any words to express how angry he was. He glared at Jonathan and wiped some blood from his nose. More just replaced it.

Jonathan just stood and watched Heero. He was frozen in a mixture of fear and dread, and he knew that if he tried to run, Heero would catch him. He visibly flinched when he saw Heero's hands tighten into fists.

Heero took a step forward, his anger blocking everything but Jonathan from his vision. Therefore, he was quite surprised when something grabbed onto his arm.

He looked down to see Audrey standing in front of him. "Please don't." She whispered, without looking at either of them.

Heero stared at her for a few seconds and then glanced around. There were a few people in the parking lot that had stopped to watch the fight, but they seemed to be losing interest in what was going on now. He looked back down to Audrey. She appeared to be fine. He couldn't remember her being in the fight, but he wanted to make sure. Gently, he lifted her chin. She was fine, but he was shocked to find that she had tears in her eyes.

"You okay?"

She nodded, and dug in her purse. She pulled out a packet of tissue and handed it to him. "Let's just go. Please?"

Heero stared at her for a second before looking back at Jonathan. "Get in the car." His voice was low and still laced with anger, but he wasn't as livid as he had been before.

Jonathan didn't have to be told twice. He grabbed all of his new clothes and quickly climbed into the back seat.

Heero took the tissue and held it to his nose. Blood was still gushing down his face and onto his shirt. The tissue didn't help much, but it was a nice thought. He made a motion to grab something out of the cart, but Audrey stopped him. "No. You'll get blood everywhere. Just go try to stop the bleeding."

Heero nodded. He didn't know when he'd been reduced to taking orders from Audrey, but he figured that she had a point. He was starting to feel kind of woozy from the blood loss. With a sigh of defeat, he trod over to the passenger side and slid in, being sure to glare at Jonathan as much as possible. He pulled the mirror down and looked at his face. His right eye was already starting to turn black, and he was finding it painful to keep it open. His nose was obviously broken. He twisted his nose back into its proper position earning crack a disgusted gag from Jonathan.

He ignored the boy. Thinking about Jonathan would only make him angrier. He still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that Jonathan had hired some punks to beat him up. He had never thought that the kid could be so angry—not to mention so cowardly and underhanded. But then again, he had been trying to pick his pocket when he'd met him, and he didn't seem to have a problem in beating up people who were defenseless.

He leaned back and closed his eyes as Audrey slid into the driver's side. He hoped she remembered how to drive, because he didn't feel like pulling the jeep out of a ditch again.

* * *

After what seemed like a year, the three trudged back into the house. During the ride back, Jonathan had had time to think about his actions, and although he couldn't bring himself around to regret what he'd done, he knew the consequences wouldn't be pretty. Therefore, as soon as they got back Jonathan tried to scoot off into his room. 

Heero was just tired. The blood had slowed to a trickle, but he'd lost quite a bit, and he still hurt in a few other places. He didn't particularly care what Jonathan did. He would deal with him in the morning.

Audrey, once she'd gotten over her initial shock at what Jonathan had done, started to get frustrated at how childish he was. She didn't think that Jonathan would do something like that unprovoked—at least she hoped he wouldn't. Therefore, the only conclusion she come to was that he was doing it out of revenge, probably because of Heero beating him up before or because Heero blew up his clothes.

She'd had about enough of Jonathan's behavior, but she knew that Heero had acted childishly as well. Therefore, before Jonathan could disappear into his room, Audrey stopped him. "Jonathan! Come back here. Sit." She indicated the couch.

Jonathan had never seen Audrey mad, but he could infer that she was pretty mad now. She had dropped the grocery bags on the floor and was glaring with her hands fisted on her hips.

Looking between the glares coming from both Audrey and Heero, Jonathan meekly slid onto the couch.

Heero had seen Audrey mad before, although only once or twice. Jonathan was in for it. He was about to send a gloating smirk over to Jonathan when she rounded on him.

"Heero Yuy! You stay here too."

Heero just stood there dumbstruck his tired and woozy brain trying to comprehend what she'd just said. "Wha…? Me?"

She nodded and headed over to stand in front of the couch. Heero followed slowly, surprised that he was actually allowing her to fuss at him.

Audrey glared between the two boys, and took a deep breath before launching into her tirade. "This little war you two have got going on, it's gone on long enough. You both need to stop. Stop _beating each other up_." She sent them both pointed looks. "Stop _blowing up people's stuff_." A glare specifically sent to Heero. "Stop being obnoxious." She looked at Jonathan. "Jonathan. I'm sorry. You're stuck with us, and none of us are going anywhere until you have lost that attitude. So I suggest that if you want to get away from us, you shape up.

"I don't know what happened tonight, but it's not going to happen again. You understand?" Jonathan nodded quickly, and she turned to Heero.

He just stared at her. "What did _I_ do?"

She gave him a disbelieving look. "You set off an explosion in the yard. You blew up Jonathan's stuff just to prove a point."

He slouched a little and continued to stare at her.

Audrey finally calmed down a bit and sighed. "Now I know that neither of you are going to apologize, so I won't even bother to ask. Jonathan go to your room." She pointed to his door. Jonathan slowly stood and headed into his room, amazed that he was being let of this easy.

With that, Audrey and Heero were left alone.

Without a word to Heero, Audrey went over to the kitchen and got some ice and a wet towel.

Heero just sat there silently watching her. He had no idea why he was even still sitting there. He guessed it was just his weakness. He usually found it hard to move when Relena was standing in front of him fussing about something either.

She brought it back to Heero. "Are you okay?" She asked as he took the ice from her.

"Yeah." He mumbled, almost pouting. He pointedly avoided her gaze.

He jumped slightly when he felt something warm and wet on his face. He looked over quickly to see that it was just Audrey wiping blood off of him. He stared at her for a few seconds before he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. A nap sounded nice at the moment.

Once she had his face reasonably clean, she looked for any scratches. There was a small one on his cheek, but the main injuries were his eye and nose.

"Heero." She said quietly. His eyes snapped open and he focused on her. She used this as an opportunity to check his pupils. Grateful that he didn't seem to have a concussion, she tugged on his arm. "Come on. Go to bed." She figured that she should probably get him to walk to his bed before he fell asleep. She doubted that she could carry him to his bed and she didn't want to have to get Jonathan to help her.

Heero obeyed. He kicked off his shoes and flopped backwards into his bed. His eyes were already starting to droop.

"Take your shirt off." Audrey ordered, clicking the lamp on.

"Huh?"

"Your shirt." Audrey said. "It's full of blood."

Heero pulled it off and tossed it to the floor all without sitting up.

Audrey got to work wiping the blood off his chest.

"Audrey?" Heero mumbled. He seemed already half asleep, but he rolled his half-lidded eyes around to stare at her. "Are you really mad?"

She just looked at him. She had been pretty upset, but seeing him like this, she couldn't bring herself to be mad anymore.

"No." She said quietly and set about checking for any bruises on his chest or stomach. There may be a few light ones in the morning, but they were nothing to worry about.

She looked back up at him a minute later only to find him asleep. She frowned.

He'd forgotten to take his jeans off. That wouldn't be comfortable to sleep in. Plus they had drops of blood on them. "Heero." She whispered. He didn't budge. She tried nudging him, but he just swatted her hand away.

She sighed and looked around. "Fine." She mumbled. _I'll do it myself. I just hope you wore underwear._ Carefully, she undid his pants and pulled them down. _Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up._

Blushing furiously, she finally had him stripped down to underwear and socks. She pulled a blanket over him and quickly scurried out of the room. She leaned against the wall outside the room and fanned her face to cool it down. "Whew."

* * *

I finally updated! Thanks to Sylver Secret, AngelicRoses, moogle in paradaisu, and ANBUszechuane for reviewing!

Please R&R.


	11. Over and Out

Chapter 11- Over and Out

Things had been tense for a few days after the episode in front of the store, and Audrey had been afraid to leave the two boys alone together. Heero and Jonathan had appeared to have called some sort of truce, however—at least she figured that since neither of them ever came back from work bloody.

The two boys weren't exactly getting along, but they weren't beating each other up. Still, they enjoyed getting on each others' nerves.

One Saturday morning, Heero had woken up early as usual, only to find that he had nothing to do. After checking his email, he just sat in front of his computer trying to think of something to occupy his time. He couldn't come up with a single thing. It was times like this that he missed the city—and especially the gym. He would figure that there would be some kind of work out equipment on a military base, but after searching twice, he had come to the conclusion that it had been cleaned out.

With a sigh, headed into the living room and turned on the TV. He decided that he would watch the news until Audrey woke up and made breakfast.

After about a half hour however, Audrey never woke up. He looked at the clock and found that it was already 7 o'clock.

"Why does she sleep so late?" He mumbled in irritation.

He lied down on the couch and stared in boredom at the TV. After a few minutes, he was bored to sleep.

About an hour later, Jonathan dragged out of his room. His hair was disheveled, and his face was void of emotion. He had his headphones on and was listening to heavy metal music. He had no idea why he was awake so early, but he just couldn't fall back asleep.

He headed into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He came back out a few minutes later. Usually, he didn't wake up until late on Saturdays—at least when Heero decided to let him sleep late. Therefore, he was disturbed when he did not smell breakfast already cooked and waiting on the table.

He was further disturbed when he noticed that someone had turned the news on.

"Who watches news on a Saturday morning?" He said in a what-is-the-world-coming-to fashion. He walked over to the couch intent on finding the remote and changing the channel. He stopped short when he saw Heero lying fast asleep on the couch.

Jonathan just stared blankly for a few seconds, the heavy metal music blaring in his ears. This would be a perfect opportunity for…something…but what?

Jonathan suddenly got an idea. He looked suspiciously around the room to make sure that no one was nearby all while searching through his music to find the loudest guitar solo he could. He paused it, and slowly pulled the headphones off. He looked at Heero to see any indication that he was awake. Judging that he wasn't, Jonathan slowly slipped the headphones onto Heero's ears.

Heero squirmed at the contact, but he didn't wake up. Sweating a little in anticipation, Jonathan quickly ducked behind the couch and pressed play.

Heero jerked upright at the sound of something screeching in his ears. He looked around frantically while bringing his hands to his ears to block out the noise. He was surprised to find that he had headphones on. He pulled them off and stared at them for a second. Then, narrowing his eyes, he followed the wire to behind the couch.

The second, Heero poked his head above the couch, Jonathan took off at a run toward his room. He forgot, however that the wire was connected to his ipod which was hooked onto the waist of his pants.

Heero noticed this right away and gave the wire a yank. The jerk caused Jonathan to spin a bit and trip, and the headphones came unplugged. While Jonathan was scrambling to correct his footing and make it to the haven of his room, Heero leapt over the back of the couch and tackled him. He pinned Jonathan to the ground. Jonathan struggled for a bit and then gave up on trying to get out of Heero's grip. He knew that he would never be able to outmatch Heero in terms of strength so he decided to play his trump card.

"You know if Audrey came out right now, she would be really mad. You probably woke her up with all that noise you made."

Heero's grip on Jonathan loosened a bit, but not enough for Jonathan to wriggle free. He listened a second for any indication that Audrey was awake. All was silent.

He looked back down at Jonathan trying to figure out what he would do as punishment.

Jonathan stared nervously at the older boy as he seemed to deliberate on something. "What? Don't you like metal?"  
Heero looked back down. "Metal? What kind of question is that?"

"The music." Jonathan said realizing that Heero probably had no clue what he was talking about. "You know…was really big in the late 20th and early 21st centuries…AD."

Heero just stared. He thought he recalled having heard Duo talking about listening to metal once, but he'd just figured that he liked listening to machines run. This explanation would certainly make more sense.

Heero was about to reply when his stomach growled. He groaned a bit remembering that he hadn't yet had breakfast. Suddenly, the idea of waking Audrey up didn't sound so bad.

Jonathan finally wriggled free, although Heero hardly noticed. He was about to head off to his room when he remembered that his headphones were still sitting around Heero's neck. "Umm…" He started cautiously. "Can I…have my…headphones?"

Heero looked up at him and stood. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the ceiling in thought. Finally he looked back at Jonathan. "Can you cook?"

"Huh?"

"Can you cook?" He repeated.

"Of course not."

"Hm." Heero said turning away. "No then." He twirled the wire for the headphones around his finger for emphasis.

Jonathan scowled. "Come on!" He made a grab for the headphones, but Heero dodged suavely. "Stop being such an…"

"Cook breakfast and I'll give them back." He said.

At the mention of breakfast, Jonathan's own stomach growled. His shoulders sagged. "I don't know how to cook. I can't even work an oven."

"You can at least try."

"Why don't you?"

Heero stared for a second, and then pivoted on his heel. He strode off toward the kitchen. "Fine, but you're not getting any."

Jonathan stared after him, and then looked toward the room Audrey was sleeping in forlornly. There was no telling when she was waking up, and he was pretty hungry.

He looked back over to Heero who was digging through the fridge. He figured that two people who didn't know how to cook working together would probably do better than two people who didn't know how to cook trying it on their own. And he wanted headphones back too.

With a small groan, he headed over to the kitchen. "Fine I'll help. Can I have them back now?" He held his hand out.

Heero turned, two eggs in each hand. He stared at Jonathan. "What's to keep you from taking them and not helping?"  
Jonathan sighed. It did sound like something he would do. He stared dejectedly at his headphones for a second. He couldn't start the day properly without his music. "How about you take the ipod too and just turn it up really loud so I can hear it too." He suggested.

Heero cocked an eyebrow. "And who says _I_ want to listen to that? It sounded like nothing more than a screeching guitar to me."

"You're judging forty years of rock by two seconds worth of a guitar solo. At least give it a try. You might like it." Jonathan insisted.

Heero thought for a second. He was kind of curious. Duo seemed to worship this type of music; he kind of wanted to see what the fuss was about. Also, since Heero had no particular taste or experience with music, he figured he might as well give it a chance.

"Fine." He said and held out his hand.

Jonathan, figuring that he wouldn't be able to get a better deal, quickly handed over the ipod.

Heero plugged it in, and immediately, music started blaring out of the headphones. Even though the speakers were sitting around his neck, it was still really loud. Still balancing his four eggs, he pulled the headphones off and put them on the counter. They could both still hear the music clearly, and Heero found that it wasn't that bad. They both just stood there for a few seconds looking around the kitchen, Jonathan's head bobbing slightly with the beat.

Finally, Jonathan broke the semi-silence. "So uhh…what are you making."

Heero looked down and shrugged. "Eggs?"

* * *

Audrey woke up to the sound of bickering in the next room. She groaned and looked at the clock. It wasn't eve nine. "They're at it this early?" She yawned and pulled herself out of bed. She figured she'd better go break them up. 

Stretching, she pulled the door open. She was shocked speechless, by the scene before her. Heero and Jonathan were standing over the stove, their backs to her. Neither of them heard her entrance, and their bickering combined with the rock music obscured the sound of her approach. Growing amused, she silently slid into a chair and watched the two.

"Move!" Heero demanded, shoving Jonathan over. "You're in the way."

"You don't need that much room!" Jonathan fussed back.

"I'm not the one hogging the stove." Heero said. "I don't even know why you're here. What are you making anyway?"

"Pancakes!" Jonathan said, offended.

"That doesn't even look like a pancake." Heero said.

"And those don't look like eggs." Jonathan retorted.

"What do you mean they don't look like eggs? These _are_ eggs."

"Well they look gross, and they smell gross too!"

Heero sniffed. Something did smell a little burnt, but he didn't think it was his eggs. "That smell is your 'pancake.' It's burning."

"No it's not." Jonathan said. "it's not even cooked through."

"Pancakes don't take that long to cook." Heero said.

"Oh. Now you're a chef." Audrey could imagine Jonathan's eyes rolling even though she couldn't see it. She had to suppress a giggle.

Heero glared. "Your pancake is _burning_!"

Jonathan glared back. "Those are _your_ eggs!"

The two boys turned back to stare at their food, their stomachs growling in unison.

"Do you think Audrey will want some?" Jonathan asked after a few seconds.

"She won't want any of that." Heero looked snidely at Jonathan's pancake.

Jonathan scowled and glared out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at his pancake. Now that Heero mentioned it, his pancake shouldn't be taking this long to cook. Maybe the burner wasn't high enough. With a lazy flick of his wrist, he turned the burner all the way up.

A few seconds later, black smoke started to drift up from Jonathan's pancake. Jonathan stared at the smoke for a second not sure what to make of it. Heero saw the smoke out of the corner of his eye and looked over.

"YOUR PANCAKE'S ON FIRE!" He yelled.

"Wha…?"

Heero grabbed the skillet off the stove and, shoving Jonathan out of the way, threw it in the sink. He turned the water on, sending a cloud of steam mixed with smoke in both their faces.

The two boys waved the smoke out of their faces coughing, as they backed away from it.

Heero was about to say 'I told you so,' when the two heard someone laughing. They both turned to see Audrey sitting at the kitchen table trying to hide her laughter.

"Mornin'" She greeted through her giggles.

The two boys stared and crossed their arms simultaneously.

"How long have you been here?" Jonathan asked, sounding betrayed.

She shrugged innocently. "Y'all need some help?"

They just glared at her, causing her to succumb to another fit of giggles.

* * *

The weekend wrapped up quickly, and soon the boys were off to start another week of work. 

Audrey was alone as usual. It was around noon, and she was bored. She'd finally finished her book—twice. There was nothing on TV. No one was around for her to talk to. She'd already cleaned everything. The laundry and shopping had been done over the weekend.

There was absolutely nothing for her to do.

Suddenly, she got an idea. She got up and went over to the oven as quickly as she could without jarring one of her ribs. She was mostly healed and looked completely healthy, and only a few movements were really painful anymore. She turned the oven on and then started pulling things out of the fridge.

An hour and a half later, she placed a fully-baked pot pie into the fridge. She quickly scribbled down a note and placed it on the kitchen table. After making sure that she'd turned everything off, she grabbed her purse and left the house.

* * *

Heero and Jonathan walked in a little before 6 o'clock and were immediately…not met with the smell of supper. They looked at each other with confusion, and Heero walked off to check the bedroom. "Audrey?" He called. 

Jonathan had gone straight to the kitchen instead of looking for Audrey. He noticed the note on the table.

"Supper's in the fridge." He read aloud catching Heero's attention. "Be back later. Audrey."

Jonathan put the note back on the table and opened the fridge. "Pot pie!" He exclaimed pulling the whole thing out.

"She…went somewhere?" Heero asked incredulously while reading the note.

"Is she not supposed to?" Jonathan grabbed a plate and knife and started cutting a piece out of the pie.

Heero didn't respond, but just went to get his own plate.

An hour later, the door opened, and Audrey came in bubbling with excitement. Jonathan was in the shower, and Heero, freshly clean, was sitting on the couch.

"I am so hungry." She said making a beeline for the kitchen.

Heero stood and followed her. "Where have you been?" He asked, leaning on the counter.

"Well first, I went to the library." She said taking the piece of pie that they'd left her and sticking it in the microwave. "And then…" She giggled. "I—"

Heero interrupted her. "How did you get there?" He asked, knowing that the library was in town, which was a good way away from their house.

She shrugged. "I walked."

"Walked?" He asked, his temper rising a bit for a reason that he couldn't explain.

"Yeah." She said. She caught the tone of his voice and turned toward him. "You know. Like moving forward or backwards while remaining in a vertical position."

"I know what walking is." He said, scowling. "I just don't know what possessed you to 'walk' from here to town knowing what condition you're in."

"It's not that far." She said. "And it was actually kind of pretty."

"Did it hurt?" He asked.

She halfway shrugged and mumbled something.

"Audrey, how do you expect me to protect you when you keep doing stuff like this?" He asked taking a step forward, crossing his arms, and scowling down at her.

"Since when are you my body guard?" She demanded mimicking his stance.

Jonathan came out of the bathroom and just stood listening to the two argue. Neither of them noticed.

"I never said that." He said not moving in the slightest.

"Well what are you saying?" She asked. "I don't know when I became your responsibility, but I can take care of myself."

"You can take care of yourself." He repeated hotly. "When you got beaten and almost raped in an alleyway, were you able to take care of yourself then?"

Before he registered her movement, his head whipped to the side, a small red handprint left burning on his cheek.

He looked back to Audrey to see her eyes filling with tears. She stared at him for a second before pushing past him and running to their room.

Heero stared at their bedroom door for a few seconds before he noticed Jonathan. Jonathan just stared him, his mouth hanging open. Heero didn't know whether he was surprised at Audrey's outburst or if he'd heard what happened to her. Either way, Heero wasn't concerned with the boy. "Go to your room." He ordered, and for the first time ever, Jonathan obeyed him without question.

Heero strode over to their room and paused with his hand on the knob. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open. Audrey was curled up in her bed, the covers pulled completely over her head. "Go away." She said upon hearing him enter.

He ignored her order and stepped fully into the room, shutting the door softly behind him. He leaned on the door, trying to think of what to say. He knew he'd messed up. "Audrey." He said.

"GO AWAY!" She yelled before whimpering. "Just leave me alone."

He ventured a few steps away from the doorway. He could see her shoulders shaking beneath the covers. "I'm sorry." He said softly. He knew she'd heard him because she instantly went still. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Yes you did." She said her voice muffled both by sobs and by the blankets. "And it's true too."

He walked around the side of the bed and kneeled down.

"Do you think I enjoy it?" She continued. "Well I don't. You know what the worst thing about that night was?" She paused, but only for a second. "I was helpless. I was absolutely helpless to stop it. And I don't need you rubbing that in my face. I don't want to have to rely on someone else having to look after me all the time. I'm not a child!"

"No." Heero agreed, pulling the covers out of her grip so that he could look at her face. "But you do need to be more careful. What would you have done if someone had tried to rob you today or if you passed out while you were walking?"

She stared at him before finally shrugging.

"That's what I mean." He said wiping a stray tear off her cheek without even realizing that he was doing it. "Stuff happens. It happens to you. It happens to me. It happens to everyone, but the least we can do is not welcome it."

She nodded and looked down.

"I didn't mean to blow up at you." He said, looking away also. He'd never been good at apologizing. "I was just…" He trailed off.

"Worried?" She supplied with a sniff.

He thought for a moment. "Yeah." He mumbled in surprise more to himself than to her. He stood up, still with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I got a job." Audrey said suddenly, sitting up and wiping at her face.

"Huh?" He asked looking down at her. He was confused by the sudden change in topic.

"At a little café by the shore." She said. "I'm an assistant chef. It's only a temporary thing though. I can leave whenever I want."

He blinked in surprise before practicality returned. "And how will you get there."

"I can walk." She said.

He shook his head. Hadn't she learned anything?

"Or you could just drop me off on your way to work. I have the morning shift anyway, and I can just walk home after."

He shook his head again. "Do you really have to get a job?" He asked.

"Yes." She said. "I get bored sitting here all day. And about the walking, it's not that far. I could use the exercise…I'll get some mace…no more hospital trips on my account. Promise."

Heero stared at her for a while before sighing. "Be ready by 5:30." He said and headed back into the living room.

Audrey smiled as she watched him walk away.

* * *

The next morning they woke up and got ready as usual. They ate breakfast and headed out to the car. Jonathan was about to slide into the passenger's seat when Heero stopped him. 

"Get in the back." He said without even looking over.

"What?" Jonathan asked confused. "Why?"

His question was answered by Audrey coming out of the house dressed in her new uniform (which consisted of just black pants and a white button-up shirt). She locked the door and headed toward the jeep.

Jonathan just dejectedly crawled into the back seat. When Audrey got in and they were heading down the road, Jonathan rested his arms on the two front seats and leaned between them. "Where are you going?" He asked Audrey.

She looked back at him while fidgeting with the cuffs of her shirtsleeves. "Work." She said. "At the Seaside Café."

"Oh." Jonathan said and leaned back apparently done with the conversation.

Heero was surprised that Jonathan's questions had lacked sarcasm or arrogance. He figured that it had something to do with him overhearing his and Audrey's argument the night before. He looked in the rearview mirror to see Jonathan staring out the window in boredom.

Audrey gave Heero directions to the café, which, to his satisfaction, wasn't too far into town. Jonathan climbed back into the front seat after Audrey left, and the two boys rode in silence for a few minutes.

Finally, Jonathan broke the silence. "Did…did she really…" He fumbled for a few seconds.

Heero looked over, his face blank, but his eyes swirling with an emotion that Jonathan didn't care to place. "Was she attacked?" Jonathan's eyes were glued to Heero. Heero paused for a minute before answering. "Yes."

"How? Where? Was she hurt bad?"

Heero didn't think that the details were much of Jonathan's business, but he answered anyway. "We were living in a city north of here. She was attacked one night by a drunk man. She was hurt very badly; she still is. That's why we're here. I wanted to let her rest and recuperate. I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak of it around her."

Jonathan nodded, before asking. "Why didn't you protect her?"

The question slightly shocked Heero, but he covered and turned a glare on Jonathan. "I didn't think she needed protection." He said simply. His mind was reeling, however, with resurfacing guilt. _Why didn't I protect her? I knew how weak she was. I should have told her not to leave without me. I should have paid more attention. I was careless and she paid for it._

Jonathan took Heero's silence to mean that the conversation was ended, and so he just turned to stare out of the window again.

The rest of the ride was silent.

* * *

The next few weeks went by rather quickly. They all three continued their routine of going to work on the weekdays. Their weekends, however, were generally different. 

This Saturday, Heero had decided to teach Jonathan to drive. It wasn't going very well.

They were out on an old gravel road some distance away from the town. Audrey was atop a hill with the leftovers from their earlier picnic. She was just enjoying the sunshine and the last bits of summer. She watched in amusement as Jonathan drove jerkily down the road and Heero fussed at him. They had the top down, so she could see all of their exasperated hand motions.

Jonathan's behavior had been steadily improving, and he was actually helpful occasionally. Heero still sometimes had a short temper with the boy though, but it was in more of a playful way.

Audrey laughed as Jonathan suddenly accelerated and then jerked to a stop again. Heero seemed to explain something to him, and Jonathan again began driving down the road, although this time a bit more smoothly.

A few hours later, the two boys trudged up the hill. Audrey smiled when she saw how windblown their hair was. Jonathan's driving skills had improved under Heero's tutelage, although it was advised that he only drive on country roads and not in town and especially not on the highway. The two sat down and helped themselves to leftover cookies.

"At least you stopped jerking everywhere, although you should work on your timing on turns." Heero said in continuation of their earlier conversation.

"I thought he did pretty well." Audrey said. "You didn't wreck at least."

"He did better than you did." Heero said and grabbed another cookie.

Audrey blushed and chuckled nervously in remembering when Heero had taught her to drive.

"Heero taught you too?" Jonathan asked Audrey.

Audrey nodded embarrassedly.

"It was terrible." Heero said laying back in the grass and closing his eyes.

"What did you do?" Jonathan asked.

"I uh…I…well I ran into a ditch."

"On a straight road." Heero added without opening his eyes.

Jonathan fell over laughing, and Audrey blushed more. "It was my first time." She said in defense. "I was nervous. And…and the phone rang."

Jonathan laughed some more.

"Well I got it eventually." Audrey said pouting. "Ooh!" She exclaimed and turned to look at where the sky was turning pink and orange. "The sun's setting!"

Jonathan sobered up and turned to sit beside Audrey. They both looked to where beautiful colors were being cast onto the sea. "Come on Heero!" Audrey said shaking him. "You're gonna miss it!"

Heero cracked his eyes open and glared at her playfully. She wasn't looking at him, however. She was staring at the sunset which, he noticed, was illuminating her already golden hair and highlighting the smooth features of her face. Heero stared for a few moments at the way her curly, golden blonde hair blew slightly in the wind. Finally, he tore his eyes away and sat up. He tried to watch the sunset, but his eyes kept darting over to her. She really was beautiful.

The sun finally dipped below the horizon leaving an orange hue in the sky right above it. Soon, however, even that disappeared and the three were left with only the starlight.

"Well. I guess it's time to go." Audrey said and stood up. She dusted herself off a bit and started picking up all of the things they had brought for their picnic. It was difficult, however since there wasn't much light to see by.

The two boys followed and helped her to clean up. They made their way down the hill with Jonathan holding the ice chest. Heero had an arm around Audrey and was helping her down the hill so she wouldn't fall. She was pretty much fully healed, but he didn't want to take any chances.

They finally made it back to the jeep and headed back home.

That night….

Heero awoke to the sound of someone whimpering. He looked over at Audrey to see that she was thrashing about in her bed. She hadn't had a nightmare in a while. With a sigh, he crawled out of bed and shook her. She immediately snapped awake and looked around.

"It was just a dream?" She mumbled.

Heero nodded and went back to his bed.

"Wait!" She yelled.

Heero groaned. He hoped this wasn't one of those 'I'm scared let me crawl in with you' things.

Suddenly the light clicked on, and he turned to see Audrey sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Sit down." She said, suddenly giggling.

Heero was confused at the sudden change in the situation. He obeyed, wondering if she had finally gone insane.

"I just had the craziest dream, and I have to tell somebody about it."

Heero rolled his eyes and got more comfortable, intent on going back to sleep.

"I'm serious!" She yelled and threw a pillow at him. He just tossed it back and rolled onto his stomach.

"I'm gonna tell you anyway." She said and began replaying her dream in her head. "So for some reason, we all decided that we were gonna go camping. Me, you, and Jonathan being 'we all.' So we rented and RV and hit the road like the happy family we are."

Heero pulled his pillow over his head to try to block out her voice.

"Come on!" Audrey said getting off of her bed and crossing over to his. She wrenched the pillow away and threw it onto her bed. "Listen. This is the only way I'm not going to dream it again."

"Can't you just pretend that I'm listening and let me go back to sleep?" He growled sleepily.

"No." Audrey said as if it were something he should have already known. "I have to have occasional input."

Heero growled and pulled his covers over his head. He'd sleep without a pillow. To his irritation, and slight amazement, he felt the bed shift as Audrey sat beside him.

"You're gonna listen whether you like it or not." She said before she continued. "Well instead of hooking the jeep to the back of the RV, we let Jonathan drive it."

"You let Jonathan drive the jeep after seeing how badly he did today?" Heero asked incredulously, forgetting for a moment that it was just a dream.

"See!" Audrey said excitedly. "Input! You're doing great! Keep it up!"

Heero pulled the covers back a bit to glare at her.

She ignored him and continued. "Well he decides that he's gonna show off, and he speeds off into traffic. And then after a while, we couldn't find him and so we decided that we were going to hit every gift shop we came across to find him."

Heero cocked an eyebrow at the sudden randomness.

"And my dream fast-forwards right here. I know that we went to more than one gift shop looking for him, but I didn't dream us doing it. Anyway we get to a giftshop and right when we walk in, I see Jonathan walk through a wall. And I was like 'oh no! He _is_ dead!' Apparently that had been brought up already, I just don't remember it. So Jonathan was a ghost, and I was the only person that could see him. I don't even think that he could see us."

Heero finally gave up on trying to ignore her and sat up. He crossed his legs and rested his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand in obvious boredom.

Audrey hardly noticed because she was so wrapped up in retelling her dream. "So I dragged you around the store a bit, following his ghost, but he kept disappearing through walls. Well finally, he led us to the door to the supply room. And I figured that that must be where his body was, so we went in there. But it was like…a maze, and the walls were made of cardboard with bricks drawn on them. Well right when we walked in, we saw these weird mutated elves. There were like two feet tall, and we had to fight them because they were mean."

Heero's irritated look started to melt and was replaced by amusement—not with the story, but with how absurd she was.

"The one I was fighting had two stripes of eyeballs going down his chest, and I kept pulling them out and throwing them across the room."

Heero snorted out a laugh. He was too tired to hold it in.

Audrey smiled a bit. "Okay so. We're in the middle of fighting the elves when we _both_ see Jonathan walk by us, open the door, and go back into the gift shop. So we just stopped fighting and followed him. And he completely ignored us until I grabbed him. And so we wanted to know how he was alive again, so he says. 'Well I'd bought these blue shoes before I died, and I knew that if I threw them in the ghost-garbage can, I would become alive again.' And in my dream it made perfect sense. I was like 'Duh! Of course he had to throw his new shoes in the ghost-garbage can!'"

Heero chuckled and wiped his hand across his face.

"So we all get back in the jeep. I guess we just forgot about the RV. But we figured that, since Jonathan was alive again, and ignoring the fact that he had probably wrecked the jeep earlier, we would let him drive. So we're driving on an interstate, and when we take the off ramp, the road starts doing corkscrews and rollercoaster drops. And I was really scared, and that was when you woke me up."

Heero stared at her for a few seconds because of the sudden and non-emotionally-satisfying ending, before stating. "You're weird, and that was a waste of ten minutes of my life."

"My subconscious is weird." Audrey said crawling back into bed and tossing him his pillow back. "I am normal."

Heero snorted before going back to bed.

* * *

Monday seemed to start off another uneventful week. They went through their usual morning routine and headed off to work. They got back, ate supper, showered, and got ready for bed. 

Audrey was almost asleep before Heero's voice woke her up. The light clicked on, and Audrey looked over to see Heero standing by the door toweling his wet hair.

She sat up and stared at him curiously

Heero shut the door and went to sit on his bed. "I think we're done here." He said.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Jonathan is a functioning citizen. We haven't had any- well any major- problems with him lately and neither has anyone at work. He's cleaned up, and there is nothing more we can do for him."

Audrey stared at him in shock. "You mean…we have to let him go?" She finally asked. She had gotten used to having Jonathan around and was starting to look at him like a little brother.

Heero nodded. "You knew he wasn't going to stay with us forever." Heero frowned at her as if accusing her of not knowing that. Audrey nodded sadly, and he continued. "He hasn't seen his mother in months. We have to send him home. We never planned to stay here long anyway."

"When are we sending him away?" She asked.

"I gave my boss my leave notice already. You can quit at the café whenever you want. We can leave tomorrow."

Audrey stared at him for a few seconds before asking. "Have you told him?"

"No." Heero said standing. "I'm going to go tell him right now."

Audrey slid out of bed and followed him to Jonathan's room. Heero knocked before opening the door. They had stopped using the alarm system a few weeks ago. Jonathan took his headphones off upon seeing them enter. He looked at them worriedly.

"Pack your stuff." Heero said bluntly.

"What?" Jonathan looked shocked.

"We're sending you home tomorrow." Audrey said.

Jonathan just stared. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad. When he had first gotten here, he had wanted nothing more than to go back to where he would be pampered and spoiled. Over the weeks he'd been there, however, he had grown fond of the two. Finally, his brain cleared enough to formulate a word. "Why?" He asked.

"Your mother sent you here to turn you into a respectable person. She wanted you to learn responsibility, self-control, and respect. You have succeeded in acquiring all of these traits. There is no more reason for you to be here, and there is no more reason for us to be here either."

Audrey stood behind Heero staring at Jonathan sadly. "Please don't be mad at us for springing this on you or for excluding you from the decision." She said pleadingly.

Jonathan was about to accuse them of doing exactly that, but the look that Audrey gave him, melted his anger. "Tomorrow huh?" Was all he said.

Heero nodded. "We'll get up early and load everything in the jeep tomorrow morning. We'll pull by your house and drop your stuff off there. Do what you want about work. Call your mother and tell her that we'll be there around 5 AM if you like."

Jonathan nodded, and Heero and Audrey left to go pack.

* * *

The next morning at exactly 5 am, they pulled up to a large red-roofed house by the sea. 

They stepped out of the jeep and Jonathan pulled his duffel bag out.

"This is your house?" Audrey asked amazed. Heero had already seen the house when he had first picked Jonathan up.

Jonathan nodded and walked toward his house. Heero and Audrey followed silently. Before they even got to the door, a woman ran out and threw her arms around Jonathan. Heero recognized her to be Jonathan's mother.

"My baby!" She said holding Jonathan at arms length and surveying him. "Look at you!" She smiled and hugged him again. Finally, she pulled away and turned to Heero and Audrey. "Thank you so much." She said giving Heero a hug. He just stood there awkwardly until she pulled away. Jonathan chuckled at Heero's expression. Jonathan's mother then turned to Audrey. "I've never met you, but thank you so much for helping him." Audrey smiled and nodded. She had tears in her eyes.

Jonathan's mother then walked back to Heero and started writing a check. Audrey looked at Jonathan and sniffled. Before she could help herself, she threw her arms around him in a sisterly hug. It was the first time she had ever hugged him, and Jonathan was shocked. She took a step back and wiped her eyes. "You be good okay." Jonathan nodded and smiled. "Keep in touch." He nodded again.

She turned and followed Heero back to the jeep. They both waved one last time and then drove away.

They had just reached the outskirts of the town, when Audrey's sniffling became too much for her to contain. She burst into miserable sobs.

Heero looked over at her frowning. _Not this again._ "Audrey…" He trailed off. He had no clue how to make her stop crying. Cautiously, he reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder.

Her reaction was spontaneous. She wrapped her arms around Heero's waist and buried her face in his shoulder. The jeep swerved, but Heero quickly righted it. He just sat there awkwardly for a few seconds, blushing, before he slowly brought his hand up to rub her back. He remembered her doing that once to him when he was sick, and it was one of the only affectionate motions he was familiar with.

Her sobs died down after a few seconds and she pulled away. Heero was almost sorry for the loss in contact.

"Sorry." She sniffed trying to wipe the remnants of tears from his shirt.

"Don't worry about it." He said, and then suddenly remembering something, he smirked and dug in his pocket. Audrey looked on curiously, as he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

Audrey gasped when she read it. It was a check for ten thousand dollars. Her mouth moved up and down, but she couldn't formulate any words. She just stared at the check and then looked over at Heero.

Heero just smirked at her and continued driving.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks to Bethrezen, timi-chan, SylverSecret, MonoxideManda, AngelicRoses, and moogle in paradaisu for reviewing.

Reviews always appreciated.


	12. Friend and Comrade

Chapter 12- Friend and Comrade

Heero and Audrey had been driving on a curvy country road for hours. The only things to see were trees and the occasional gas station. The air had been getting chillier by the day, and the trees were starting to look barren. Although she wasn't much on cold weather, Audrey found the multicolored leaves littering the ground and blowing in the wind to be beautiful.

Heero pulled into a gas station. He got out to work the pump, while Audrey sat in the jeep trying to decide whether or not she wanted something from the shop.

"Do you think they have coffee?" She finally hollered to Heero.

He just shrugged and finished with the gas.

Audrey sighed and got out of the jeep, stretching a bit to ease the muscles that had gotten cramped during the long ride. "Too much to ask for you to get one for me huh?" she said sarcastically as she strode past Heero toward the shop.

He snorted at the idea and followed behind her.

Audrey stopped suddenly and Heero had to pull an evasive maneuver to avoid running into her. He looked at her curiously, wondering what the problem was.

"Look!" She said pointing to a sign hanging on the bulletin board near the shop's entrance. "Puppies!"

Heero just groaned and rolled his eyes. He gave her a look that clearly said that she could forget getting one and continued into the shop.

"Come on." Audrey whined following him in. She completely forgot about her coffee. "Please? Can we just go look at them."

Heero grabbed a bottle of water and headed to the counter to pay for the gas. "If you see them, then you're going to want one."

"Well yeah, but so will you." Audrey stuck her lip out, but Heero just shook his head. "You like dogs, right?"

"Yes, but we can't get one now." Heero explained. "It's not practical."

"What's not practical? They're free." She said hoping that he would change his mind.

The store clerk smiled at their little argument. Heero sent Audrey an irritated look, and handed the man his credit card. "No they're not. You have to feed them, and they crap everywhere, and they smell."

"But they're cute…and they take care of themselves."

He took his card back and turned to leave. "Then let them take care of themselves. Besides, where would you put it?" As he was walking through the door, Audrey grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the bulletin board.

"The back seat." She explained while pointing eagerly to the sign. She gave him her best pouting look.

Heero sighed, but took a swig of his water and read it. "No." He said a few seconds later, ending the argument.

Audrey sighed in dejection and turned back to the jeep. Heero was about to follow her, when another sign caught his eye. "How about the circus?" He called. Audrey stopped in her tracks and came back over to him.

"The circus?" She asked putting a hand to his forehead. "I don't think you should be driving." She snatched his water and smelled it.

"I'm serious." Heero said flatly. He grabbed his water back.

"You don't want to see puppies, but you'll go to the circus? Since when do you like the circus?"

"I know someone in the circus…another gundam pilot." He told her reading the sign once more before striding back to the jeep.

"Oh." Audrey, still more than a little perplexed, scurried after him. "Of course…But how do you know it's this one?"

"I don't."

Hours later, the two found themselves sitting on bleachers in a large tent. There was a large crowd murmuring excitedly and looking around at all the props stationed around the arena. Audrey wasn't talking, but she was gawking at the tent just like the rest of the people. Heero just crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and sat silently. Anyone who didn't know him would think he was sleeping. Audrey didn't give him much attention either way.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed and a spotlight was set on the largest ring in the middle of the floor. The crowd's murmuring died down as the ringleader came into the spotlight. Audrey leaned forward excitedly, and Heero merely opened his eyes.

The man did look familiar to Heero with his red coat and beard. The ringleader announced the first act, and the show began.

About an hour and quite a few acts later, Audrey and Heero were both in the same positions they'd been in since the beginning of the show. The ringleader reappeared as he always did between acts to announce the next performance.

"AND NOW!" He said loudly. "FOR OUR FINAL ACT: THE AMAZING ACROBATS CATHERINE BLOOM AND TROWA BARTON."

Heero finally sat up so that he could see better.

A young woman in a pink dress appeared, waving and bowing to the crowd, and began to climb up a very tall ladder. She was followed by a young man with baggy green pants and a mask over one side of his face. He did a simple bow and started to climb his own ladder. The crowd was entirely silent as the two acrobats stood on their separate platforms. Suddenly Catherine grabbed a bar and swung off of her platform, earning gasps from the crowd. Trowa stood for a few seconds until Catherine let go of the bar and did a flip in the air. Then, he leapt off of his platform, amidst even more gasps, did a series of twists and flips in the air, and landed gracefully on a tight rope just in time for Catherine to land safely in his arms.

The crowd burst into applause and standing ovation. Audrey was hooting excitedly. Heero clapped as well, but with a bit more tact. The crowd, chattering excitedly, started slowly filing out. Audrey started to follow them, but Heero pulled her back down into her seat. "Wait." He said.

"What for?" Audrey asked. Heero didn't answer; he looked like he was contemplating something. She just stayed sitting silently beside him until nearly everyone was gone.

Heero stood up suddenly. "Come on." He said walking toward the exit. Audrey scurried behind him into the cool night air. He strode around the side of the tent and stopped, searching for someone he recognized. Audrey stopped, slightly behind him and looked around at the campers and the people walking to and from them. Heero finally seemed to saw someone he knew and quickly strode toward them. Audrey had spotted and lion and so hadn't noticed that he'd gone.

"Catherine." Heero stated stopping a few yards behind the girl.

Catherine turned around. "Hey. I remember you." She said with her usual sweet smile. "You're Trowa's friend." She walked toward him. "It's nice to see you healthy." She paused for a second as if confused as to why he was there, but then her smile faded and she turned scolding. "You're not here to take him away are you?" She asked putting her hands on her hips. "Because he doesn't fight anymore, and he's perfectly happy where he is."

Heero shook his head. "I was just in the area. There's no trouble."

Catherine suddenly turned sheepish, and put a hand on her forehead. "Oh how silly of me." She chuckled. "Trowa's right in there." She pointed toward a small grey trailer. "I'll go get him for you."

Heero watched her walk away and then turned to Audrey…or where she was supposed to be. She was nowhere to be seen. Rolling his eyes, he started scanning the area. How could she have gotten lost so quickly?

He was so busy looking for Audrey, that he didn't notice someone walk up behind him.

"Heero." Heero whipped around at Trowa's semi-surprised tone.

"Trowa." Heero nodded to him. Audrey would be fine, hopefully.

"It's good to see you. What are you doing here?" Trowa asked. "Not trouble I hope."

"I was around." Heero said shrugging.

They both stood around silently for a few minutes. Neither could think of anything to say. It was Trowa who finally broke the silence. "Have you heard from any of the others lately?"

"No." Heero stated. "You?"

"Only little bits and pieces from Quatre." Trowa said turning back to his trailer and motioning for Heero to follow.

Heero took one last look around for Audrey before following him.

"It would seem," Trowa started after they had seated themselves at the table in Trowa's small home. "That Lucrezia Noin, Lady Une, and Sally Po are heading a new organization called the 'Preventers.'"

Heero crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Preventers?"

"It's a new department developed and funded by the Earth Sphere Alliance to prevent wars before they start, by putting down factions and rebels and such. It was started fairly recently, but it's getting a lot of support. You haven't heard of it?"

Heero shrugged. "I've been…out of touch." He thought he recalled having heard of the Preventers, but hadn't looked into them much. He'd been busy, and he hadn't deemed them important at the time.

"They seem to be doing well, as there haven't been any problems lately…By the way, Quatre is planning on sending his gundam into the sun. I've already sent mine to him, and I believe Duo has as well."

"Send them into the sun?" Heero asked. A hint of shock flickered across his face before it melted back into his usual stoic visage.

"I admit it was difficult to part with Heavyarms," Trowa said, having spotted Heero's reaction, "but I don't plan on using it again. And it's not the kind of thing you want to keep around for someone to steal."

Heero nodded. "What about Wufei?"

"No one's heard from him since the war's end." Trowa said gazing out the window to where people were congregating around a small fire across the camp. "I guess he just wants to be left alone."

"Hn."

"You know that's the first time I've heard you do that?" Trowa said with a chuckle.

"What?" Heero asked, genuinely confused.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. They both turned to see Catherine stick her head in the doorway. "Come on you guys." She said noticing that Heero was still there. "You're missing all the fun."

The boys could hear people singing and clapping, and someone strumming on a guitar.

Trowa nodded to the door, and they both stood up and followed Catherine toward the campfire. Heero and Trowa continued to talk quietly as they walked.

"Enough of this business." Trowa said with a small smile. "How have you been?"

Heero shrugged. "Good I guess…You?"

They stopped a distance away from the fire. Catherine went on ahead of them to give them time to catch up.

"Things have been fine…." The two were silent, before Trowa chuckled. "We're not very good at small talk. Wouldn't you agree?"

Heero laughed as well and nodded. "We're both used to talking about strictly politics and strategy. We can hold a decent conversation with a talkative person, but on our own, we're helpless." He paused for a moment to think. "I think I should ask what you've been up to." He said.

"That would probably be an appropriate question." Trowa said. He thought for a second. "But I haven't done anything besides perform with the circus. What have you been doing?"

Heero shrugged. "Traveling. Doing small things. Mainly construction work."

Trowa looked almost surprised by the information. "You don't seem like the type for that. Unless…it's some sort of repentance." He cocked an eyebrow at Heero.

Heero looked away. "Someone has to do it, and I don't have anything else to do."

Trowa nodded and the two trailed off into silence. Heero stared around at the circus equipment, while Trowa took an interest in watching the people dancing around the fire. He stared at one in particular wondering why he'd never seen her before.

A minute later, Catherine came back.

Finally, Trowa asked the question that he'd been dwelling on. "Who's that?" He pointed to a girl with curly hair dancing with a man near the fire.

"I don't know." Catherine said. "David was talking to her earlier and asked her to dance. She seems nice."

Heero looked over to the person they were talking about. "Audrey." He growled.

"You know her?" Trowa asked.

"Yeah." Heero said. "We got separated earlier and I didn't feel like looking for her."

"Oh." Trowa said in surprise. They continued to watch Audrey do a fast paced dance with David. Heero looked on with growing irritation, Trowa with interest.

Catherine got bored of their silence and headed toward the fire again.

David spun Audrey, dipped her, picked her up and twirled her around, and did other fancy moves earning some hoots from the crowd.

Trowa glanced over at Heero's face as he watched them dance. It was stoic as usual, but he detected a hint of…jealousy?

Heero caught Trowa looking at him. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Trowa said looking back to the dancers. Heero did so as well. The song had ended. Audrey curtsied, and David bowed, placing a kiss on her hand. Audrey pulled her hand away gently, and took a step back blushing.

"One more dance please?" He asked, in a heavy French accent.

"Non, monsieur." Audrey responded. David was a great dancer, but she really wanted to find a familiar face. "I can't. I must find Heero."

"Your boyfriend?" He asked in French. She was more fluent in French than he was in English so she decided to continue the conversation in French.

_Boyfriend?_ Audrey blushed but shook her head. "No." She corrected him. "My friend. That's all."

He gave her a smile. She smiled back politely before turning and looking around for Heero. She didn't see him anywhere near, however. She stepped away from the fire a bit to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Finally, she spotted two figures, one familiar, standing a bit away from the fire. She quickly walked toward them.

Heero watched her carefully as she approached to see if there were any indications of pain in her gait. There weren't, but he wasn't happy about her dancing like that.

"You were just gonna let me wander around until I happened across you?" Audrey asked Heero when she reached him.

He ignored her question. "Where have you been?"

"Where have _I _been?" She glared at him. "_I_ wasn't the one that wandered off all willy-nilly without telling anyone. And besides, I think you know where I've been, since you've been standing here watching me." She seemed to notice Trowa for the first time, and turned to him with a smile. "Hi. I'm Audrey." She said extending her hand.

Heero rolled his eyes as Trowa accepted her hand with an amused look. "Trowa." He introduced himself.

Audrey was about to complement him on his performance when Catherine returned.

"They have hotdogs." She said holding one in her hand. "Why don't you come get some?"

Heero checked his watch and finding it to be pretty late, shook his head. "We should go."

"Go?" Catherine asked as though she truly disliked the idea.

"Eat first." Trowa insisted.

"Mademoiselle!" They heard someone yell. "Mademoiselle!" They all looked to see David hurrying over. He reached them and, ignoring everyone else, handed a hotdog to Audrey. "I have made you ze hot-dog." He said.

"Thanks." Audrey smiled, causing the young Frenchman to blush, and accepted the hotdog. "You are too cute." She mumbled before taking a bite.

Heero scowled, and Trowa chuckled. "You'd might as well eat, Heero." Trowa said starting toward the fire.

Heero just grunted and followed him.

Heero and Trowa sat in silence while they ate their hotdogs. They mostly watched people dancing around the fire, but Trowa occasionally stole glances between Heero and Audrey. Heero for the most part tried to ignore the chattering girl beside him. David had seemed thrilled that he had finally found someone else who spoke French, and Audrey was happy to practice her own much unused second language with him. Heero had been irritated with the young Frenchman from the moment he'd first seen him.

Trowa sensed that Heero's mood had deescalated, but he found that he had no idea how to cheer him up—besides somehow getting Audrey away from David. Trowa figured that Heero's bad mood was stemming from the girl's new friendship with David, and that the Frenchman was obviously flirting with her. Trowa had no experience with girlfriends, but he figured that that sort of thing was cause for complaint.

Trowa's conversation reserves were all used up, and he couldn't think of anything to talk about that didn't relate to the war or politics. He figured that bringing up any of those topics wouldn't do much to brighten Heero's mood.

Therefore, he just sat silently beside his former comrade and watched. He was somewhat stunned to see all the emotions flitting across Heero's face. The Heero he remembered was passionate, but always kept his emotions carefully hidden. Trowa was pretty good at reading emotions, because he knew how to hide his as well. Except for a few slips, Heero had always masked his feelings too well for Trowa to read.

Heero's mask was still on now, but Trowa could see the cracks in it. The change in him, was not at all bad…just unexpected. Interesting. Hopeful even.

Heero had been open and calm all night, until he had until he had seen the girl—or rather, perhaps, until he had seen the man flirting with her.

Trowa smiled secretively as he cast another hidden glance between the two visitors. The girl…Audrey he believed her name was—although his memory had never been good…was special to Heero, no doubt about that. Trowa doubted that even Heero realized how special she was to him.

After sitting beside the fire for nearly a half hour, Heero suddenly stood.

"You leaving?" Trowa asked.

"Yeah." Heero said sending a look to Audrey that meant for her to follow.

Audrey sent a guilty smile to David. "Sorry." She said standing. "His grouchiness has decreed that we leave."

Heero glared at her before striding off, and, with a chuckle, Trowa followed him.

Audrey ignored his glare. "Au revoir, David!" She called, running to keep up with the two gundam pilots.

"Are you planning on sending…" Trowa began to ask but then stopped when Audrey caught up with them.

"She knows." Heero said, understanding why he stopped. "And I don't know yet. It makes sense to destroy it, I guess."

"Destroy what?" Audrey asked.

The two boys just stared at her.

"Guy thing?" She asked confused, but then reconsidered. "Or a gundam pilot thing perhaps."

Still, neither said a word, but just continued to stare, or glare in Heero's case.

Audrey looked from one to the other, before getting the hint. She sighed. "Wierdo thing's more like it." She mumbled in Heero's general direction, before turning to Trowa. "It was very nice meeting you." She said politely to him, and then got into the jeep.

Trowa turned an amused gaze to Heero. "She seems nice. Pacifist?"

Heero narrowed his eyes, but couldn't help but smirk slightly at the joke.

Trowa smiled as well, when he realized that he'd finally cheered him up—at least a bit. It would be a nice note to part on, he supposed. "Well I don't suppose we'll see each other anytime soon." Trowa said, his face turning solemn. "Unless you're heading into space."

Heero shook his head, casting a glance toward the night sky. "I don't plan on it." He said.

Trowa nodded and then extended his hand. "Well goodbye then." He said knowing that it could be the last time they would ever see each other.

Heero shook his hand with a nod. He was never one for formalities. "It was good seeing you." He said, although he felt a bit awkward.

"You as well." Trowa nodded and stepped back, and Heero climbed into the jeep. With a small wave, Heero drove off.

Heero and Audrey sat in silence for a few minutes before Audrey spoke. "He seemed like a nice guy."

"Who? David?" He put an emphasis on the name.

"I meant Trowa." Audrey said ignoring his attitude. "Kind of quiet though."

Heero didn't respond.

"Although David was nice too." Audrey said playfully.

Heero sent a dark glare her way before turning back to the road.

"Don't be so ornery. I don't know why you're so grumpy anyway." She reprimanded seeing his glare. "I had no idea where you went, and he saw me standing around, so he asked me to go dance with him by the fire. Don't go off on your 'nothing's safe' lecture, because you were the one that left me." Heero ignored her, but Audrey, suddenly excited, continued talking. "…OH! David let me pet the lion."

Heero continued to stare out the windshield. He couldn't really put his finger on why he was so angry with her. He just was. He figured it may have something to do with the prospect of destroying his gundam.

Audrey looked at Heero to find that he wasn't even listening. She rolled her eyes with a sigh and gave up on trying to have a conversation with him. She'd never seen him so moody over nothing, but she figured that he'd get over it given time. Crossing her arms, she leaned against the window and stared at the stars. She didn't really like space, but it was pretty to look at, and somewhat soothing. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep.

After a few minutes of silence, Heero looked over at Audrey, only to find her asleep. His anger dissipated upon seeing her slumped peacefully against the window. Her jacket was sliding off her shoulder, so without realizing it, he reached over to fix it.

Suddenly, he realized what he was doing. He pulled his hand back as if he'd been burnt, and looked back at the road. After a few seconds, he glanced back over at Audrey.

_It's her._ The realization came like a ton of bricks. _I…care for her.

* * *

_

I hope you Trowa fans are satisfied with my portrayal of him. I've always found him to be quiet in a cute, but in an analytic way, and it made sense to me that he and Heero would have trouble carrying a normal conversation.

Anyway. Thanks to my reviewers: Bethrezen, AngelicRoses, tali, moogle in paradaisu, StarlingNight, Sylver Secret, DeepFreeze27, and MonoxideManda. You guys make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.

Reviews always appreciated.


	13. December With Duo

Chapter 13– December with Duo

Heero drove all night and, by morning, had arrived at the suburbs of a large city. Heero had no intention of actually going into the city, and so had found a small apartment in the suburb. He had driven all night and all day, so as soon as he'd spotted the bed, he dropped into it and fell asleep.

Audrey, having slept the whole ride, was wide awake. She didn't know how long they would be staying, so she didn't bother unpacking her things. She was grateful that the place had a tub, so grateful, in fact that she decided to try it out.

She poured a glob of shampoo into the tub to make a bubble bath, while softly humming the tune that the guitarist had played the night before. She'd forgotten how fun it was to dance.

She spun around gracefully, and humming a little louder, quickly slid off her clothes, and slipped into the tub. She sunk down into the bubbles, blowing some playfully to watch them fly into the air. The hot tub was relaxing, so she decided that she would soak for a while.

Nearly an hour later she finally pulled herself out of the tub. The water was starting to get cold and her skin was pruning. She wrapped herself in a towel, humming again. Flashbacks from her dance the night before ran through her head, and she subconsciously repeated some of the steps.

She grabbed the hair dryer and clicked it on, not even considering the fact that it could wake Heero up.

It did, in fact, wake Heero up. He rolled over and glared at the bathroom door as if to order it to stop the ruckus. He clenched his eyes shut to try to block out the noise. Unfortunately, at that moment, Audrey decided to start singing.

Heero's eyes snapped open again, and with a growl, he climbed out of bed and strode to the door. He banged on it, but Audrey apparently didn't hear. His eye twitched, and he tried again. When she again didn't respond, he swung the door open, not even noticing that it hadn't been locked.

Audrey was standing in nothing but a towel singing into the hair dryer while the hair dryer blew her hair straight upwards. She was hopping around and didn't notice him come in. It was really a sight to behold, and Heero found his anger melting slightly to be replaced by a tired kind of amusement.

Still, he was tired. "Audrey!" He shouted.

She whipped around, shocked. She still held the dryer where it was, so her hair was still whipping upwards. That combined with her wide eyes and gaping mouth, forced an unwitting chuckle from Heero.

He steeled his face, although there was still a hint of amusement in his eyes. "What are you doing?" He asked calmly.

She seemed to snap back to herself, and finally noticed the situation. She turned the hair dryer off and put it beside the sink. With two hands, she held her towel into place. She looked at him quizzically. "Weren't you sleeping?"

Heero nodded, an ironic look on his face. "I was. But _something_ woke me up."

She blinked and stared. After a second it hit her. "Oh! I'm sorry! I was just...you know what, go back to sleep. I'll be quiet."

Heero didn't move. "You never answered my question." He noted, although he didn't know why. When she looked confused, he clarified. "What were you doing…and _why_?"

She blushed and then turned away, freeing one hand from the towel and grabbing a brush. "I was singing." She mumbled.

"And dancing." He said. "Since when are you so fond of dancing?"

She shrugged. "I've always liked it. I did ballet when I was little, and my dad used to teach me to dance things like the waltz." She looked at him over her shoulder. "Every year my whole family goes to the Christmas ballet…" Something suddenly struck her and she turned away. "Oh my gosh! It's almost December! I have to go home for Christmas!" She looked back at Heero who was leaning tiredly in the doorway. "Wanna come?"

Heero stared at her. "I'll think about it."

She frowned at his answer. The two stood in silence, and Audrey was suddenly feeling a little self conscious. "Heero." She said, with a slight chuckle. "Umm…so like…I'm kinda naked right now."

He jumped away from the doorway, suddenly registering the fact. "Oh." With a slight blush, he scooted out of the bathroom and shut the door. Although he was tired, he didn't feel like going back to sleep. Instead, he sat on the bed and hollered to Audrey through the door. "Who does that?!"

"Does what?" Her shout was muffled by the door and the shirt that she was presently pulling over her head.

"Dances around in nothing but a towel while singing into a hair dryer." Heero says.

"Free spirited people such as my self." The door swung open. "We also enjoy splashing in puddles and mud, reciting poetry in everyday speech, and singing at random times and places." Audrey's head poked out of the bathroom and she smiled at him. "Would you like to join our ranks?"

He stared. "Wha…" Before he knew it, she had grabbed his hands and started pulling him to the front door. "Where are we going?"

"Outside." She said. She dragged him to beneath a tree and then stood facing him. She held onto one of his hands and then put her other hand on his shoulder.

"What are we doing?" He asked trying to pull away. Audrey wouldn't let go.

"We're dancing."

"Outside?"

"Of course. Where else would we dance?"

He shrugged. "Inside?"

"There's not enough room there." She said and fixed his free hand into its proper position. "_Can_ you dance?"

"Yes." He said almost defensively.

"Good. That's less work for me then. Go ahead."

Heero looked around, and judging that no one was around to see them, hesitantly started to lead her in a waltz.

Audrey smiled when she realized what dance he was doing. The waltz had always been one of her favorites. She started humming the tune.

Heero gradually loosened up, especially when he realized how good a dancer Audrey was and how good she felt in his arms…or how good she would feel if she were closer. He smirked slightly. He could remedy that.

Audrey was more than surprised when she was suddenly spun outward. She let out a gasp, but flawlessly followed the motion, even adding a little sass to it. She looked back at Heero to see him smirking at her. "Impressive." He said.

She grinned and allowed him to spin her back inwards. He wasted no time in dipping her, but she was ready for it, and lifted her leg up gracefully. She decided that she would play his game. _Let's see how good he is._

Heero swung her around and then pulled her back to him. When he did this, she wrapped her arms around him and ran her leg up the outside of his thigh.

He froze, and she giggled.

Suddenly the two heard clapping. The two quickly parted and looked toward the source of the noise. A middle aged man and woman wearing jogging clothes, the man holding a dog leash, were standing on the sidewalk watching them.

Heero blanched. Audrey waved and took a bow.

"You must be new here." The woman asked. "Where are you from?"

Audrey headed over to the couple and dragged a reluctant Heero along with her. She smiled cheerfully at the older couple. "Yes we just moved in. We're from America." She told them.

The couple looked astonished. "America?" The man asked. "You've come a long way then."

Audrey nodded, and Heero frowned for being called an American.

"How long have you been married?" The woman asked.

Heero and Audrey were stunned, but Audrey quickly recovered. "We're just coming back from our honeymoon." She said. "We're actually still not even fully unpacked. We just decided to take a little break."

"Oh." The woman said. "Well we'll leave you two to that then. See you later!" She gave Audrey a wink, and then she hand her husband jogged off.

Audrey waved and then turned to Heero. She froze under the weird look he was giving her. He didn't look angry, maybe a bit irritated, but… she couldn't really place it. "What?" She asked innocently.

Heero continued to stare for a second, before shaking himself out of his stupor. "Married?" He crossed his arms and stared down at her.

Audrey shrugged with a giggle. "She expected us to be. She knew we were living together. I didn't think I could pull off telling her you were my brother."

Heero rolled his eyes and brought up the other topic of his displeasure. "I'm American?"

It was her turn to roll her eyes. "What's wrong with being American?"

"Nothing. But I'm Japanese."

"I forgot." She said innocently.

Heero scowled.

Audrey sighed. "If I'd told her you were Japanese, she would have wanted to know how we'd met. Would you have liked to explain that to her?"

Heero scowled, but didn't argue.

Audrey assumed that their conversation was over, and so she turned back to the house. "C'mon _honey_!" She called loudly. "We have to unpack."

Heero's eyes widened and he blushed in embarrassment at the term of endearment. He looked around to make sure that no one had heard. Luckily, no one had. With an odd feeling in his stomach, he trudged after her into the house.

* * *

Heero awoke to the sound of chirping birds. It had been two weeks since they'd moved into their small apartment, and nearly every minute of them had been stressful. Their neighbors were way too nice for his tastes. They came to visit everyday, and in order to pull off the whole marriage act, Heero had had to disassemble one of the beds and put it into the closet. That meant that either he had to sleep on the floor, or the two had to share a bed. 

Lucky for Heero, Audrey didn't mind sharing the bed with him. She seemed to be enjoying their predicament, because every time someone came to visit, she would pull out the pet names. The visiting women found them to be cute. The men sent Heero pitying looks. Heero was just embarrassed and generally refused to speak to her for an hour after their guests left.

He couldn't say that he hated it completely. Their little game was tiring and at times embarrassing especially since he had to act like an American, talk about strictly American politics, and pop culture, memorize famous American tourist sites that their neighbors had been to. He did find a little enjoyment in playing, however. He was a natural born actor, and could fake emotions when necessary. For the most part, he didn't have to fake anything (except for a smile whenever Audrey called him "dumpling"). He usually just acted naturally.

The two had to maintain their act at work as well, since their neighbors had helped to get them hired at their own jobs. Heero and Audrey had been doing small menial jobs around the city, namely helping to build new apartments, and working at a shelter/orphanage.

The curtain was about to drop on their play, however. The weather had been getting colder every day, and Heero knew that there wasn't much time left before Audrey would have to go back home for Christmas. She'd promised her parents after all.

Heero glanced at the clock. It was not yet 6 AM. Heero rolled over and looked at the other side of the bed where Audrey slept. He stared for a second as his brain comprehended what he saw, and when it finally did, he sat up in confusion.

"Audrey?" He called climbing out of bed.

He looked around the apartment only to find that she wasn't there. Starting to grow worried, he shoved on his shoes, threw open the front door, but stopped on the stoop as a cold wind blew in his face. He'd found Audrey at least—she was in the front yard.

She turned around at the sound of the door opening and sent him a grin. "Heero look! Snow!" Indeed there was snow. Audrey was standing ankle deep in it.

Heero looked around, almost in awe. The only other time he had seen snow, he'd been in Antarctica. He'd hardly noticed it then. He'd been anticipating his battle with Zechs, and had been recovering from his self destruction at the time. This snow…it was beautiful. The ground and street were covered in a soft blanket of it, and it had collected in the trees and on the rooftops. The sun wasn't up yet, but when it began to rise, he would wager that it would look almost heavenly. Still the dim light given off by the street lamps gave it a sort of mysterious feel.

The wind blew again, snapping Heero out of his amazement. He looked down remembering that he was still in his pajama pants and T-shirt.

He was about to go back inside and change when he felt something cold and wet collided with his face. Heero stumbled backwards in shock. He quickly regained his balance and wiped the remnants of snow from his eyes.

He looked confusedly over to Audrey, and then up to the roof. "What the…?" He mumbled. There was no sign that any snow had fallen from the roof, and he was fairly certain that it hadn't come from that direction anyway. He looked back over to Audrey, only to have more snow splatter against his forehead.

He heard Audrey giggle. He looked over at her, confused and a bit irritated. "Why are you throwing snow at me?"

Her grin faded, and it was her turn to fix him with a confused stare. "They're snowballs." She said. "It's what you do with them. See." She threw another one, but Heero ducked out of the way. The snowball splattered on the carpet inside.

Heero looked back at her. "I don't understand." He said. "Why?"

"It's a game. A mock battle I guess. Traditionally we both build snow forts and throw snowballs at each other. You play until you get tired or you have to go inside."

Heero nodded. He thought he comprehended the game. It seemed somewhat pointless though. He noticed a mound of snow behind her. She had obviously piled it up herself. "Is that a snowball too? Or is it your fort."

She pouted, seemingly offended. "Neither. It's a snowman."

Heero quickly laced up his shoes and walked toward her. The snow crunched beneath his feet and he sunk down a few inches, but thankfully, none of it got inside his shoes.

He stopped in front of the 'snowman' and studied it. "It doesn't look like a man. More like an anthill."

She gasped in offense. "He's not done yet!"

Heero laughed and looked over at her. She just scowled and kneeled down to finish her snowman. Heero's laugh was cut short when he noticed that the bottom few inches of her pants were wet. He studied the rest of her attire. She was still in her pajamas, although she had put on a jacket before she went out.

"How long have you been out here?" He asked.

She shrugged wile adding another handful of snow to her snowman. "Ten maybe fifteen minutes."

"Are you cold?"

She shrugged again.

"Come inside."

She looked back at him. "But…my snowman…"

"Is not going anywhere." Heero finished for her. "Come warm up before you get sick and die."

Audrey stood with a pout. "Yes mother." She mumbled, before marching to the house. She knew he was right. She had been so excited about the snow that she hadn't noticed how cold she'd been. Her socks were soaked through, and her clothes had hardly been doing anything to warm her up.

A few minutes later the two were sitting dry and warm on each of their beds. Heero was flipping through the channels, and Audrey was just staring at the TV boredly.

Suddenly, she spoke up. "I have to go home for Christmas. I promised mom and dad. You want to come?"

Heero looked over at her and thought for a second. He didn't think that her father would like it very much if he showed up. He shook his head. He had some things he needed to check up on in space anyway.

"Will you stay here?" She asked. "You can't spend Christmas alone."

He shrugged. "I've got a few friends in space. I could go there."

She looked over at him with a pout, but didn't say anything. It would be selfish of her to keep him from seeing his friends for Christmas.

* * *

It was two weeks before Christmas when Heero and Audrey found themselves sitting in a spaceport. Heero's flight was due to arrive in a few minutes, and Audrey was fighting a losing battle to hold back tears. Audrey's father was sending a personal plane in a few hours to take her and the jeep back to America. 

A woman came over the speakers and announced that Heero's shuttle was arriving. Heero stood and grabbed his bag. He looked down at Audrey. He'd never been good at saying goodbye, but where he was bad, she was terrible. She had burst into tears at the announcement. She wiped her eyes trying to stop the tears and looked up at Heero. When she said that he hadn't left yet, the jumped up and threw herself into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his jean jacket.

He stared at her for a second, his eyes softening. Although he'd somewhat expected her to want a hug, he was still a bit awkward. He'd never been good at these hug-things. He shifted his bag higher on his shoulder, and holding it in place with one hand, used the other to rub her back.

"Why are you crying? I'll only be gone for a few weeks." He said once her sobs had died down a little.

She sniffled, a million terrible scenarios running through her head. She squeezed him tighter but didn't say anything.

He continued to rub her back as people started boarding the shuttle. Neither talked for a few minutes, until the woman came back on the intercom announcing that it was the last call to board the shuttle.

Heero took a step back and Audrey reluctantly released him. He lifted her chin and stared into her puffy red eyes with a soft smile. "I'll be back okay? I promise." He said while wiping some tears from her face.

She sniffed and nodded.

With that, he turned and headed for the terminal. He stopped just before he disappeared into the gate and turned.

Audrey was still standing there, tears streaming down her face, staring at him. She looked lost and miserable. He gave her a small smile before turning and boarding the shuttle.

He sat back in his seat and strapped in just as the shuttle turned on its engines. He let his head fall back onto the headrest and rolled it to the side to look out the window. He stared at the port, aware that Audrey was probably staring back at him.

The shuttle took off, and he continued to look out the window, until the port was just a small speck on the outskirts of the city, and then disappeared altogether.

He finally turned his head away from the window and closed his eyes, thinking about the real reason he was going to space.

Recently, he had been catching hints of disturbances in the colonies. He didn't really want to get involved, but he figured that it might be a good idea to stop by the Preventers headquarters or find Duo or Quatre to see what they knew. He knew he could get the same amount of information from the Preventers, but he didn't want to deal with them. Also, from what he'd heard from Trowa, Quatre was probably busy—especially so, since Heero had recently authorized Noin to send his gundam to Quatre.

So presently, he was headed for the colony that Duo had been living on for the past year. He figured that it might be good to see Duo again.

The ship docked and Heero filed out with all the other passengers. Heero hadn't been able to contact Duo, and so he didn't know where exactly Duo was except that he'd been doing business deals on this colony for the past year. Duo was a Scavenger, so he figured that he would probably look around junkyards.

He almost felt odd to be in space again although he had spent most of his life there. When he looked at the sky—a habit he had gotten from Audrey—he was almost surprised to see steel and bolts instead of birds and clouds.

Hoisting his bag higher on his shoulder, he hailed a taxi. He was going to have to get used to riding in taxis and walking since he had no other mode of transportation.

"Is there a Scavengers field around?" He asked, sliding into the back seat.

The driver nodded, and Heero handed him some cash. The driver nodded, and after giving Heero a questioning look, took off down the street.

Ten minutes later, he was standing outside the gate of what looked like a junk yard. He just walked in looking around. He didn't see Duo anywhere.

"Hey! Can I help you?"

Heero turned to see a small girl with short black hair coming toward him. Heero recognized her vaguely as the girl who brought them information from the Libra during the final battle of the war.

"I'm looking for Duo Maxwell." Heero said not bothering to introduce himself.

"He's not here right now." She said looking him up and down. She recognized him, but she couldn't place his name. "He won't be long. Would you like to come in and wait?"

Heero shrugged and followed her through a garage and into a small break room.

"I'm Hilde by the way." She said.

"Heero." Heero introduced himself. He sat at the table and leaned back to wait.

"Would you like something to drink?"

Heero politely declined.

Hilde shrugged and headed back into the garage.

Heero closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He didn't know what he was doing here. He didn't want to be involved in whatever was happening, and coming here was just making involvement more likely.

He didn't even have a place to spend the night, and he was just sitting around waiting for Duo show up.

Fifteen minutes later, a voice snapped him out of his brooding.

"HEY HILDE! I GOT LUNCH!"

Heero heard Hilde yell something back, but it was unintelligible. Heero grabbed his bag, and made his way out into the garage.

"Heero." Duo looked surprised, but then turned serious. He turned and handed two bags to Hilde. "I'll be in in a minute." He told her. He motioned to Heero to follow him. When they were out of hearing distance of anyone, Duo turned to Heero. "Is there a problem?"

"Actually I was hoping you could tell me." Heero said. "I've been on earth. As far as I can tell, I'm just being paranoid. Have you seen anything odd?"

Duo shook his head. "Nah. Only the normal stuff." He thought a moment. "Quatre and I just sent the gundams off a few days ago. So if there is a problem, we're screwed."

"Hm."

"So are you up for long?"

Heero shrugged. "Until after Christmas."

"Where are you staying?"

Heero looked out toward the city and shrugged. "I'll find somewhere?"

"You could always stay with me."

Heero shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll be alright."

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Duo spoke.

"So you really think something's going down?"

Heero glanced at him before looking away. "I don't have much evidence."

"There are some computers at the space port that pick up Preventer transmissions pretty easily if you know the right frequency." Duo said. "I can show you later if you want. But uh…what exactly makes you think that something's going on?"

"Hundreds of young men have been reported missing over the last few months. There's been new talk of a leader rising to lead the colonies. There's also just something that's been irking me about the colony L3-X18999. The economy isn't stable and there aren't many citizens, yet there is a continuous flood of imports, mainly metals and different alloys."

"You really did your homework." Duo said scratching his head. "Yeah I have heard talk about a new leader, but I just thought it would be someone like Relena or something. I never would have suspected that someone was staging a coup. Now that you mention it though…Maybe we should head to the port now."

Heero shrugged. "Your choice. I don't have anywhere to be."

"Just hang on a second." Duo turned and ran back into the garage. He returned a few seconds later with two cheeseburgers. He handed one to Heero and then led him to his car.

Within seconds, they were speeding down the street back in the direction of the port. Not even an hour after he'd left, Heero was standing back in the same spot he'd been standing when he'd arrived. Duo strode into the port as if he owned it. Heero followed, and when no one was looking, they both slipped into a small side door. They found themselves in a long, plain hall.

"There are actually six control rooms here." Duo explained as he navigated the halls. "One for surveillance, one for power control, one for cargo ships, one for passenger ships, one for personal crafts and diplomats, and one for mobile suit launch."

Heero had been following silently and making a mental map of the route they were taking. His head jerked up at the mention of mobile suits.

Duo looked over his shoulder with a sneaky smile. "The last one has been locked up since the colony demilitarized. No one's been in there—except for me." They stopped at a door and looked around. After seeing that no one was nearby, Duo quickly typed the access code into the panel beside the door and the two casually walked in.

Heero looked around at the rows of computers. They were all off, and the room was dark. Both of them knew better than to turn the lights on. Such an increase in power would draw unwanted attention from the power surveillance room. They were just lucky that no one noticed when they turned one of the computers on.

Duo immediately strode over to one of the computers. Heero followed and watched as he quickly hacked into the system. Within a few seconds, he was receiving transmissions from the Preventers.

Heero leaned in closer, reading as words and statistics quickly scrolled up the screen.

"There." Heero pointed, and Duo quickly stopped the scrolling. "L3-X18999, established AC 185…agriculture suffering…massive emigration AC 189…construction stopped AC 190…continuous flow uranium and metal imports AC 190 to 197."

"Wow!" Duo said his eyes widening. "How did we miss this?"

"Easy, there are hardly any inhabitants, so the colony claims to be experimenting with more efficient power sources and structures. As long as they have _something_ to show for at least a portion of their imports, they can do what they want with the rest."

"So what do we do?" Duo asked, scrolling down a bit more.

"Nothing." Heero leaned his hip against the table.

"What?" Duo turned to him incredulous.

"This isn't our problem. It's the Preventers' problem. Let them handle it."

"But…do you think they can."

"There's no harm in letting them try. It's what they're here for."

"But if they can't handle it…then, we'll step in…right?"

Heero thought for a second before speaking. "_You_ can do what you want. _I'm_ staying out of this if at all possible."

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room. Duo quickly turned the computer off and followed after him.

* * *

Heero found a small apartment for his stay on the colony. It actually felt kind of weird being alone, and he somewhat regretted not taking Duo up on his offer. He considered calling Audrey just to check in, but he didn't want to interrupt her time with her family, and he didn't want to risk having her father answer the phone. 

He kicked back in the bed and flipped through the channels. He settled on the news, but when he found that they weren't talking about anything important, he turned the TV off and went to take a shower.

Heero didn't really have anything else to do. Duo had promised to show him around the colony tomorrow—as if Heero had never been on one—so Heero decided to just go to sleep.

* * *

Heero had no idea where Duo's apartment was, so Duo went to Heero's apartment to pick him up. "Hey Heero!" Duo banged loudly on the door, probably disturbing more people than just Heero. 

The door swung open a second later. "Finally." Heero muttered as he stepped into the hall. He shut the door behind him and locked it.

A minute later, the two drove into a busy street. "Okay." Duo said turning right. "You already know where the Scavengers are, and the space port." He pointed to his 7 and 10 o'clock positions respectively. "Directly behind us are all the foreign and home affairs buildings, business and whatnot."

Heero glanced for a second at the cluster of skyscrapers behind them.

"My apartment is that way, but I'll show you that later." He pointed to his left. "Off to our right, past your apartment and this whole other row of buildings is McCarran Park, named after the founder of this colony. And directly ahead of us, today's main destination, is the best mall on the colony. And by best, I mean, the one with the biggest food court and the prettiest girls. It also has a pretty awesome arcade."

Heero chuckled.

"Anything else you're itching to see?"

Heero shook his head.

"Good." He zipped down the road toward the mall, excitement brewing in his stomach.

* * *

Heero bit into a huge burrito, and listened as Duo listed all the interesting shops, and occasionally pointed out girls. He finally ran out of things to say and got to work devouring his pizza. 

Heero had almost forgotten how Duo ate. It was a huge contrast to the way Audrey ate, but it was also somewhat amusing. Heero grabbed a stack of napkins and passed them over to Duo. It hardly took five minutes for Duo to finish his pizza. He leaned back in his seat contentedly and looked across the table to Heero.

"So…how are things?"

Heero shrugged.

"Aw c'mon. You have to be more specific than that. Whatcha been up to? Where have you been? Got a girl?"

Heero leaned back. "I've been on earth, just going around doing small jobs. Mainly rebuilding things."

Duo nodded and chuckled. "Seems like something you'd do. But back to my other question."

Heero cocked an eyebrow feigning confusion. He didn't particularly feel like talking about Audrey. Especially since he wasn't entirely sure of their relationship.

"He-man you can't tell me that you don't have a girlfriend. You always have girls hanging off you wherever you go." He pegged Heero with an expectant look.

Heero just shrugged.

"What about that blonde, rich girl?" Duo leaned forward.

Heero knit his eyebrows. _How does Duo know Audrey?_

Duo grinned. "I knew it. You're still digging on Peacecraft."

Heero chuckled. _Let him think what he wants._ He didn't feel like contradicting him because that would mean telling him all about his relationship with Audrey. He quickly found a way to change the subject. "Speaking of Peacecraft, you haven't heard anything about Miliardo Peacecraft, have you?"

Duo seemed shocked by the question, and then looking around suspiciously, leaned in closer. "Are you saying he's not dead?"

Heero shook his head. "The records say he is dead, but I have trouble believing that."

Duo stared at Heero. "Do you think that if he is alive, he might be behind this new thing?"

It was Heero's turn to be shocked. He'd never thought of that. "I don't know…" he said slowly, while analyzing the idea. "It sounds like something he'd do."

"And he's surprised us before." Duo said. "But what would be his motive?"

Heero thought for a second. "Maybe he thought the war was inconclusive…but we're running away with this. It was just an idea."

Duo nodded sheepishly and took a sip of his drink. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Duo spoke again. "Have you talked to Quatre, Trowa, or Wufei lately?"

"I have no idea where Wufei is." Heero said. "I talked over the phone to Quatre when I sent him my gundam. I saw Trowa a few weeks ago."

Duo's eyes widened. "Really? How is the old boy? He's still with the circus right?"

Heero nodded. "He seemed good to me. He said he was heading into space."

"Anywhere around here?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask. I didn't think I'd be coming to space."

"He's still got that really overprotective sister?"

Heero nodded again.

"She was kind of scary." Duo admitted.

Heero laughed although he inwardly agreed.

Duo glanced at his watch and stood. "C'mon. We've still got time to hit the arcade. I've got to meet Hilde for lunch later. Wanna come with?"

Heero just shrugged and followed as Duo led him toward the arcade.

* * *

The next two weeks passed pretty quickly. Heero awkward without Audrey, but Duo's ever cheerful presence was enough to take his mind off of things. 

The colony's weather simulators made the air chilly, with an artificial winter. Bright colorful lights and wreaths decorated the streets in preparation for Christmas. Store windows were filled with toys and men dressed as Santa Claus occasionally stood outside of the shops asking for donations.

Trips to the mall and became a daily activity for Heero and Duo, but since it was just before Christmas, it was unusually crowded and hectic.

Heero had found a gym as well, and when Duo was busy, Heero could usually be found there. Although he had never lost his muscular physique, and had actually filled out a bit over the past few months, he missed exercising. He felt out of shape, and wanted to make up for his lost time. He actually made a habit of getting up in the morning and taking a jog around the park before Duo came over.

Duo didn't really have set hours to work, so he and Heero usually hung out in the morning. Then Duo would meet with Hilde for lunch. Heero would occasionally tag along. He found Hilde to be quite interesting. She looked so weak and frail, yet Heero knew that she had once been a soldier. She had infiltrated an enemy base, retrieved important information, and piloted a stolen mobile suit back to the Peacemillion. The information she had brought had turned out to be quite influential in the outcome of the final battle of the war, and it was probably because she had seen Relena on board the base that Relena Peacecraft was alive today.

Heero was internally grateful to her, although he found it hard to talk to her much—although that could be because he only saw her when Duo was around, and Duo wasn't known for being quiet.

There were a few times, however that Duo had stepped away, leaving Heero and Hilde alone. He found that she was quite intelligent and kind, a great contrast to the loud and carefree attitude Duo always displayed. Heero didn't know much about relationships, but he figured that the two were a pretty good match.

Heero felt a little out of place when he was with the two. They seemed to share some sort of bond that Heero wasn't privy to. Duo could always sense when Hilde was irritated, and he knew just what to say to make her feel better. Hilde always seemed to know when Duo was stressed, or worried, and worst of all for the two of them, she always seemed to know when Duo wasn't telling her something. Duo would never lie, but he had no qualms about omitting a few details here and there.

Therefore, it was pretty difficult for the Duo to sneak off to the spaceport without making her suspicious. Heero had had to step in a few times and come up with an excuse so that Hilde wouldn't worry or ask to tag along.

Even though Heero said that he didn't want to be involved, he and Duo went to the spaceport every day to check up on things. Their fears of another war were increased with each passing day. Heero was beginning to think that his participation in solving this new problem would be unavoidable. He was still determined to wait it out and see however just in case the Preventers turned out capable of handling it.

* * *

Duo jerked awake to the sound of someone beating on the door to his apartment. He quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed his gun.

"It's just me!" The person yelled through the door.

Duo recognized the voice to be Heero. He kept the gun just in case and went to open the door. "What's up, man? It's late."

"The Preventers found some neo titanium up near the thirteenth constellation. They're still trying to find where it came from, but they're pretty sure it's being used to make mobile suits." Heero said leaning against the doorway.

"So it's a bigger problem than we thought." Duo said rubbing his eyes. "That couldn't have waited until morning?"

"There's more. Get dressed."

Duo groaned and went back into his room to do as he was told. He reemerged a minute later awake and perky as ever and headed to his car.

"But what makes you think they're doing anything now?"

"If someone's staging a coup, what better time than the first year anniversary of the end of the war?"

Duo had to concede that one. He just leaned back and sped down the road toward the port.

Heero continued to explain the situation. "As far as I can tell, the disturbance _did_ originate in the L3-X18999. The Preventers are on the case, but it's too late. Whatever they're planning is already in motion."

Duo screeched to a stop in an alley near the port and the two snuck in. They headed straight for the computer room.

"Who exactly are _they_?" Duo asked.

"I don't know yet. I guess the first person to look at would be the leader of the colony." Heero slid into a chair and hacked into the database. Letters and numbers scrolled up the screen until Heero finally found what he was looking for.

"Which is…?" Duo asked leaning against the door.

"Mariemaia Barton. Born in After Colony 189. Mother Leia Barton. Deceased two years after her birth. Father, unknown."

"It's Christmas, but someone always gets stuck working." He walked over to look at the screen. "Didn't know Trowa had a niece."

"So the records say. But the Trowa we know isn't the real Trowa Barton."

"Right. I almost forgot."

"You goin'?"

"Yeah…Relena's been kidnapped." Without a second glance, Heero took off down the hall. A bad feeling was forming in the pit of his stomach.

Duo ran a hand through his hair. "Anything for the one you love." He said with a smirk, and followed after him.

* * *

I hope I got Duo and Hilde right. Hilde isn't in the series much, so I wasn't sure exactly how to portray her. I figured that she was strong minded and usually easygoing, but I do remember her having a bit of an attitude. I tried to make Duo cheerful and playful without being obnoxious.

Thank you to all my reviewers. Reviews are always appreciated.


	14. Reunion

Chapter 14- Reunion 

Heero awoke in a large, comfy bed. Groggily, he pried his eyelids open, wondering why they felt so heavy. Everything was a blur, but he could already tell that he was nowhere familiar. He closed his eyes again and remained perfectly still while listening for any sign of another person in the room.

His memory was still fuzzy and he could only remember bits and pieces of the previous day's…week's?… events.

Finally determining that there was no one around, he opened his eyes again. He waited a few seconds while his vision cleared and then sat up. A spike of pain shot through his skull, and his body strained and ached with the movement, but he ignored it all.

His senses were on high alert—or at least as alert as they could be at the moment. While still listening for any unusual sounds, he looked around. He was in a rather fancy, carpeted warm-looking room—one that he didn't recognize. The curtains were drawn closed, so he couldn't tell what time it was.

A bit unnerved at waking up in a totally foreign location, he pushed himself off the bed intent on searching the room for hidden dangers. As soon as he stood however, the room spun and grayed out. He sat back down a tad ungracefully and held his now throbbing head. His vision was still swirling, and his ears were ringing. He hardly registered the fact that someone had walked in and was hurrying over to him.

"Heero." The person called. From the voice and the gentle way they pushed him to lie back down, he could tell it was a girl. He stared at her through blurry vision.

"Audrey?" He mumbled weakly.

The girl recoiled in shock.

_Not Audrey then. _Heero thought, the return to his bed allowing his brain and vision to clear. Finally, he recognized the face. "Relena."

Relena recovered from her shock and leaned over him. She took a cloth from a bowl beside his bed and, wringing water out of it, placed it on his forehead. Heero flinched at the coldness, but he never took his eyes off of her.

"How do you feel?" She asked sitting in a chair that had been conveniently placed on the side of the bed.

Heero just shrugged. He was never comfortable lying in bed helplessly, and didn't like to be waited on either.

The door suddenly swung open, and Duo came in. "Yo he-man!" He yelled excitedly upon seeing Heero awake. "I thought you were never gonna wake up!"

Heero looked at him curiously. "How lo-"

Duo intercepted his question. "You've been asleep for eight days man."

Heero didn't bother to hide his shock. After a few seconds, he looked around again. "Where are we?"

"You're in the Sanc Kingdom, Heero." Relena explained softly. "You were injured and exhausted, so we brought you here to heal and rest."

"Is it over?" He asked Duo.

"The Preventers are cleaning it up. Marimaea survived, but the real power was destroyed. Lady Une is taking responsibility for her since she claimed to be Treize's daughter. They're trying to find some kind of guardian. Either way, she's not doing anymore damage."

Heero nodded and sat up. Relena protested, but he brushed her hands away gently. "When can we leave?"

"Leave?" Relena looked both shocked and hurt. "But you're not even fully healed yet! You need some rest. Stay here for a while."

Both boys ignored her. There were things the two of them had to clear up.

"Can we have a minute, 'Lena?" Duo asked. He was suddenly serious.

Heero caught his serious tone and gave Relena a look that told her to go.

Relena stood dejectedly and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The two gundam pilots remained silent for a few seconds, neither looking at the other. Finally Duo spoke.

"You were right…well sort of. Miliardo Peacecraft is back in action."

Heero didn't react.

"You knew about it then." Duo stated.

"No." Heero admitted. "But I never thought he'd died. Was he involved with-"

"No." Duo said. "He fought on our side. He's joined the Preventers and now goes by the codename 'Wind.'"

"So he hasn't caused any trouble?" Heero asked.

"No." Duo still sounded skeptical.

"And he's distanced himself from the Peacecraft family."

"That's good right?" Duo asked.

"Yeah." Heero thought for a moment. "In a way. That way, his actions wouldn't reflect on Relena."

"I don't know if I trust him though. He's never really followed protocol."

Heero shrugged. "We'll just have to let Noin handle him."

Duo chuckled. "Guess so." He looked at Heero. He looked a tad roughed up, but it was nothing that a gundam pilot couldn't handle.

Heero was silent for a few seconds. One thought was running continuously through his head. Finally he voiced it. "Wufei betrayed us." His voice showed that the betrayal hurt him.

Duo looked shocked for a second, but then he nodded and looked at the floor. He knew that Wufei had betrayed them, although he hadn't known the extent of it. He figured that he was about to find out.

Sure enough, after a second, Heero spoke. "He's been working for them this past year. He gave them information on building and upgrading mobile suits, and he used his own gundam against us. He tried to kill me."

Duo sat in the chair on side of the bed, but remained silent. He had a feeling that Wufei's betrayal disturbed Heero more than he was letting on.

"He said that the only thing we gundam pilots are good for is fighting wars, that without wars, we're useless."

Duo scowled. "You don't believe that do you?"

Heero looked over at him. "I don't know. But it worries me…if Wufei can feel that way, what's to stop any other former soldier from feeling that way too? What about mobile suit technicians? What if they feel they're useless if they don't create mobile suits?"

"But…Wufei's always been…I'm sure…" Duo sighed. "You've got me. I guess all we can do is hope that everyone can get over it."

"Do you think they'll stop just because of this?" Heero was staring at his lap. "We couldn't stop it last time and we fought for over a year then."

Duo didn't have an answer. He just stood and stretched, feigning a carefree attitude. "So you ready to ditch?"

Heero nodded, trying to push his earlier train of thought out of his head, and swung his feet over the side of the bed. When he tried to stand, however, his knees buckled and his vision went haywire again. Duo grabbed him and helped him back into bed. "Maybe you _should_ stay for a while." Duo suggested.

Heero just held his head and waited for his vision to clear.

Duo pulled a phone out of his pocket. "I'll just call Hilde and tell her that we're here. She's probably worried since we missed Christmas."

"We've been here for eight days, and you didn't call?"

Duo looked at the ceiling with a pout. "It slipped my mind." He said. "And it's not like she's my keeper anyways…oh hey Hilde!" He said into the phone. There was some loud gibberish coming from the other end of the phone. "We're both fine thanks for asking." Duo interrupted her. "How about you?…well Hilde, we're not going to be home for a few days yet. Heero can't exactly walk right now." Heero glared at him. "No! No! We're both fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. Nothing that a little rest and an ice-cream sundae or two can't cure."

"You go." Heero suddenly said.

"Huh?" Duo looked at him.

"Go back home. I can take care of myself."

"But…"

"Go."

Duo stared for a few seconds until Hilde's voice snapped him back to reality. "Change of plans, Hilde." He told her. "I'm catching a flight tonight." Hilde said something to which Duo responded. "Heero says he's fine." He sent a conniving grin to Heero and started backing towards the door. "He wants to be alone with 'Lena."

Heero looked shocked for a moment and glared as Duo ran out of the room yelling "bye Heero!"

Heero lied back down and shut his eyes. He was tired, and he ached everywhere. He was about to drift off to sleep when the door opened again.

"Heero?" Relena said quietly.

He had to suppress a groan when she came up to his bed and put the cold towel back on his forehead. It had fallen off sometime. He couldn't remember when, and didn't care either.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

Heero just then realized that _was_ hungry. Very hungry. He was about to answer when his stomach answered for him. He groaned.

Relena smiled softly. "I'll get you something." She ran a hand through his hair and then left, closing the door quietly behind her.

Heero didn't move.

* * *

After two days of being nursed and spoiled by Relena, Heero was finally able to pull himself out of bed. The first thing he did was explore the building and surrounding area. He wanted to return to Audrey, but he was still nervous. You could never be too careful. Although he had promised never to kill again, he kept his gun on his hip as he stalked through the halls of the Peacecraft mansion. He was too suspicious to drop his guard. There was no telling if some of the soldiers in the faction were still loyal, and since Relena had been their prime target the last time they'd attacked, he figured that if he was needed anywhere, here would be the place. His lack of attention before had nearly caused catastrophe, and he didn't want it to happen again. 

He'd made a habit of shadowing Relena's speeches and meetings just in case there was trouble. He ate dinner with her, and followed her around the house to make sure that she was safe at all times. She seemed to enjoy the attention.

There was only one thing that bothered him—a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to leave and return to Audrey. This feeling intensified with each passing day.

The feeling, though, was rather new to him. He had never been pulled toward any particular place. He had always just been where he was. He went where he was ordered, or where he was needed. There were no questions asked. His opinion on the matter would have been pretty insignificant even if he had cared about where he was going or what he was doing.

Even though his main priority should have been Relena, he was confused to realize that all he could think of was Audrey. He could only tolerate Relena at the best of times regardless of what other people thought. He could certainly never love her, as everyone thought he did. He'd heard once that love takes time and patience, but he couldn't see himself ever loving Relena. He'd never thought of her that way. All those times that he'd checked on her, he'd known it had only been because if she died, the Earth Sphere would be thrown into chaos.

Now that he thought about it, he knew that he had experienced love, at least a little. But not with Relena. Relena was spoiled, selfish, and nosey. She had good intentions, but she could hardly see past herself. These past few days with her proved that.

He had come to another conclusion in all his musings. Everything Relena did reminded him of Audrey, and Heero always noticed that Audrey did it better—or at least differently. It wasn't just Relena though. Duo's cheerfulness and ability to talk about everything and nothing all at once had reminded him of Audrey. Hilde's subtle intelligence, and fiery attitude when she was angry reminded him of her as well.

It was just that Relena reminded him of Audrey more. The similarities between the two girls were striking. There was the fact that they were both adopted into rich families and raised by politicians. Also, they were both determined and nearly unstoppable when they set their mind to something. Heero had been surprised by both of their capabilities many times.

That's where the similarities stopped, however.

Whereas Audrey knew when to back off and be quiet, Relena continued to trail behind him talking about how much she cared and how much they were alike.

One of the major differences between the two girls was that Audrey could cook. Heero had, once asked Audrey where she had learned to cook, and she had told him that she used to help the chefs at home. Heero could never imagine Relena doing something like that. Both girls had been raised in the lap of luxury, but only one of them had actually stepped off her pedestal. The other had used her position and connections to gain even more wealth and to become one of the most influential and powerful people in the Earth Sphere. Heero acknowledged that Relena's position was good for making the public continue to support peace, but he just couldn't see himself as anything more that her bodyguard.

Although he occasionally felt like Audrey's bodyguard as well, he knew that she would never intentionally put herself in danger. Audrey was occasionally careless and naïve, but she knew her limitations. Relena on the other hand had time and again placed herself in the middle of a battle knowing that because of her power and position she wouldn't be harmed and would soon be rescued. Who would be her savior? Someone like him who had much better things to do than to clean up after spoiled rich girls—or at least that particular spoiled rich girl.

He knew that Audrey had her flaws, too. But they didn't bother him as much as Relena's did. Heero actually liked that Audrey wasn't perfect. He thought that made her more human—it made him _feel_ more human. Although at the time, he had thought it irritating that Audrey hadn't known how to drive the jeep that she, herself, had made, now, he could only laugh at the memory. He could also only chuckle when he remembered that her worst fears were drowning, being lost in space, and…spiders. One of the qualities that he liked most about her was that she didn't treat him as some sort of god-like person who _should_ be flawless. To her, he was human—and that's all he wanted to be.

And now that he was around Relena all day, every day, he could think of nothing other than getting back to Audrey. He'd promised after all.

He couldn't explain it, but his heart clenched at the thought of letting her slip away from him. She was all he had. Sure he had friends who he could count on for just about anything, but none of them were anything like her.

He wondered just how blind he'd been. For months they'd been getting closer, but he couldn't define their relationship. They weren't just friends, nor were they just partners.

Somehow, though, it seemed that others had seen what they both had intentionally missed. Trowa's subtle glances between them had confused and almost irritated Heero at the time, but now he realized that Trowa had seen what Heero had chosen to overlook. Even Jonathan had made comments at times suggesting that there was something between Heero and Audrey, but Heero had dismissed him and his suggestions entirely.

Heero didn't know whether or not he loved Audrey. He didn't really understand the concept. He did know, however that he felt different when he was around her, he worried for her safety because of her not because of what would happen to the world if she were hurt or killed, and that he always looked forward to seeing her.

Now, as he sat in the middle of Relena Peacecraft's luxurious home in the Sanc Kingdom, he missed Audrey more than ever.

That was why he had been extremely grateful when Miliardo Peacecraft had showed up at the Peacecraft estate. He had never been happy to see the man, and he probably never would be, but the moment he's stepped out of the car, Heero knew that his work was done. Miliardo could take care of his sister.

* * *

Heero was dressed and ready to leave at 7 o'clock the next morning. Standing in front of Relena's door, he took a deep breath and looked up and down the hall, before knocking. She answered it, still half asleep. She was wrapped in a robe, her hair wasn't brushed, and her lack of makeup made her look drastically less healthy than she usually did. 

Heero hardly noticed her appearance, however. He had just come to say goodbye. It was the least he could do.

Relena was instantly awake upon spotting Heero. She tried to close the door yelling that she wasn't dressed, but Heero held the door open.

"I came to say goodbye." He said.

She instantly stopped worrying about her appearance and opened the door fully. "You're saying goodbye?"

He nodded. "Thank you, Relena, for all your help and care. I know that you're busy, so I'll just leave you to your work."

"Heero no!" She grabbed his arm as he was turning away. "Don't go."

"Relena." He sighed. "I can't stay with you."

She didn't let go, so Heero gently shook himself free. Relena looked at him dejectedly and stepped back. She was suddenly self conscious again, and started wiping at her face and pulling her robe closed more.

Heero had already started to walk down the hall when her voice rang out again.

"Who is she?"

Heero stopped and looked over his shoulder. He knew who she was talking about, but he didn't answer.

"A few days ago, when you woke up, you called out a name. Who is she, Heero?"

Heero remained silent for a moment before he replied. "With all due respect, Relena Peacecraft, that's not your business."

Relena was shocked at his statement. Heero simply turned and left.

* * *

Twenty hours, and five time zones later, Heero was standing at the front door of the Harper Estate. Heero hadn't even bothered to get his belongings from space—he would get Duo to mail them down later or something. Taking a plane straight form the Sanc Kingdom to America would be quicker and cheaper than going back into space and then returning to earth. 

He rang the doorbell and suddenly felt nervous. Jeanne, one of the Harper household's many servants and Audrey's confidant, opened the door; she wasn't dressed in her usual uniform, but Heero hardly noticed. Jeanne recognized him after a few seconds, and she ushered him in excitedly and with something akin to relief.

"I'll go tell mademoiselle Audrey-"

"No." Heero interrupted her. Jeanne looked at him in confusion before he spoke again. "I want to surprise her. Where is she?"

Jeanne smiled with glee at the boy, but her grin was lost when Audrey's father, Gregory, walked into the foyer. Dread settled into Heero's stomach. Gregory had never liked him, although Heero could never figure out why.

Gregory stared at him for a few seconds. He looked to be about to say something when Audrey's mother, Lillian, came in behind him. She looked shocked by Heero's sudden arrival, but then she gave him a genuine smile.

Jeanne said something in French, and Lillian's smile grew. Gregory looked disturbed, but Lillian's hand on his arm kept him from saying anything.

"Follow me." Jeanne said to Heero and led him up the stairs. "Do you have any bags?"

Heero shook his head. All he had was his gun, and that was tucked into the back of his pants kept safely out of sight by his jean jacket.

Heero looked back to see that Gregory and Lillian were following them. A few other people were inching curiously towards the stairs. Some, he recognized, some he didn't.

Heero wondered nervously if he was actually being taken to Audrey.

Jeanne stopped in front of a door. The door was slightly ajar and there was a warm orange glow spilling into the hallway. She motioned for him to go in.

Heero looked at her and all of the people congregated around him before slipping quietly inside. No one followed him, but they all leaned toward the door to watch what would happen.

He immediately spotted Audrey lying on a large rug in front of a lit fireplace. A fluffy white cat was lying in front of her, and she was petting it absentmindedly while staring blankly at a book. She was facing away from him, and the carpet in the room prevented her from hearing him approach. Heero quietly walked up beside her and sat down. She didn't even notice him. The cat did, however, and meowed at him. When Audrey turned her head to see what the cat had reacted to, her eyes widened.

Before Heero could react, Audrey jumped on him. "You're okay!" She exclaimed tearfully. "You're okay!"

Heero didn't say anything. He was shocked at first, but his shock melted at the feel of her arms wrapped around him and her small body pressed against his. Tentatively, his arms encircled her, and he returned the hug.

It didn't take him long to realize that she was crying.

"What's the matter?" He asked, looking down at her. He couldn't see her face because it was buried in his shoulder.

"I thought you'd died." She choked. "We were watching it on the news. I saw you…and an explosion…and you fell…and then they gave a number of casualties, but they didn't say any names. And…and…" She succumbed to sobbing again.

Heero rubbed his hand across her back and leaned his cheek on the top of her head. He was actually surprised that she had been so worried about him, but the same thought warmed his heart.

They stayed in that position for a few seconds, and then Audrey jerked back and slapped him. Not even a moment later, she regretted it and looked at him guiltily.

Heero was stunned. _Did I do something wrong?_ He wondered.

"I'm sorry. I forgot. You must be hurt." Audrey said. "I was just kinda mad that you went to fight and didn't say anything. You said you were just going see a friend. And you never called."

Heero's shocked look faded and he smiled slightly. "Sorry." He said. He pulled her back to him and rested his cheek on the top of her head, enjoying the sweet smell of her hair. "I hadn't wanted to fight, but Relena Peacecraft had been kidnapped, and a faction was trying to start a mobile suit battle with earth."

"Yeah. I heard about that." Audrey said. She bit her lip and then brushed his shoulder off. She was afraid to touch him, so she did it lightly. "I'll wash that."

Heero looked down to see his jacked soaked with tears. He shook his head. "It's okay." He reached up and lightly wiped the remnants of tears from her face.

"Are you hungry?" She asked. "I'll fix you something."

All of the people outside of the door quietly scurried away so the two wouldn't know they'd been listening in.

"_You'll_ cook something?" He asked.

Audrey nodded. "The servants are off for the holidays." He looked confused for a second so she clarified. "Some of them live here, though." She seemed to just think of something else. "Are you staying? We've got a ton of room, and I'll tell my dad to be nice."

Heero nodded and stood. "If it's okay."

Audrey stood as well. "It's fine. Where's all your stuff?"

"It's still in space."

She noted the tears in his current attire. "We'll have to get you some new clothes then. Or…you left some here last time?"

He nodded.

She started leading him toward the door and then said absentmindedly. "I got you a Christmas present. It's in my room."

"Christmas present?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I'll get it for you later."

Heero quickened his pace to walk beside her. "Christmas present? I thought they was just for kids." He asked again as if confused by the idea.

She stopped and turned to him, just realizing that he had probably never celebrated Christmas before. Poor thing. "Well technically we are kids, but people of all ages celebrate Christmas. It's tradition. For Christmas you get all of your friends and family presents, and then you exchange them on Christmas day. You've never celebrated Christmas before?"

Heero shook his head and Audrey gave him a pitying look. They reached the kitchen and Audrey started checking the fridge to see what was there.

"Well Christmas isn't just presents. It's a Christian holiday dating back centuries. Nowadays, it's a time for families to get together and be thankful for all our blessings. The presents and food have just kind of become tradition."

Heero nodded and took a seat on a barstool at the kitchen's island on the opposite side from the actual cooking area.

"So uhh…what do you want to eat?" Audrey asked.

Heero just shrugged.

"Chicken fettuccini it is!" She exclaimed pulling some chicken strips out of the fridge. She went over to the counter across and a little to the side of Heero and began cutting them into smaller strips. Suddenly, she stopped and looked around. "Where is everyone? For the last few days, they were everywhere I turned, and now they've disappeared."

"I saw your parents and some of the servants when I came in." Heero said. He did think it was sort of odd that everyone in the house would follow him all the way upstairs with such curiosity and then suddenly disappear.

"I guess I'll make enough for them too." Audrey said, and went to pull another packet of chicken strips from the fridge.

Neither was aware that Audrey's parents and eight other people were huddled outside of the doorway peeking in.

* * *

Heero had been amazed at the way that eating a simple dinner could make him feel so much better. He knew that the fact that chicken fettuccini was one of his favorite foods probably had something to do with it. It seemed better than usual though. He wasn't sure why.

After he'd eaten, Audrey led him up to her room to give him his Christmas present—or rather presents. There was a small flat one, and two larger ones all wrapped in colorful paper.

Heero just stared at the three gifts—he couldn't remember ever receiving a gift—at least not one that didn't relate to fighting.

"Well go ahead." Audrey sat on her bed and crossed her legs. "Open them. I kinda went overboard, but I can use it too." She pointed to one of the larger boxes. "Open that one first."

Heero looked at her before kneeling down by the one she had pointed to. Carefully, he peeled the paper off, and then looked up at Audrey. "What is it?"

She laughed. "It's a video game system. All the kids our age have them. I figured it was time for at least one of us to get with the program."

_All the kids our age have them._ Heero smiled. _All the normal kids._

"The other two go with it." Audrey said. "There's no point in having a video game system if you don't have any games to go with it. I didn't really know what game to get, though. Most of them are all about violence or racing. I personally am not much on the racing games, and since the world is getting over the whole violence thing, I had to find something else. This one just looked so perfect, that I had to get it."

Heero unwrapped the other two gifts more quickly. The excitement at being compared to a normal person was getting to him. The small gift was a CD—something about dancing. The big one was a mat with arrows on it.

Audrey was bouncing up and down in excitement. "Come on!" She jumped off the bed. "Let's play it."

She grabbed the game system and ran over to the TV in the corner of the room. Heero grabbed the other two and followed her a bit more tamely—although he was curious and excited by this new game.

It didn't take long for Audrey to set the game up. Heero just watched her; he figured she knew what she was doing.

"Okay." Audrey stood as the game turned on. "Do you want to try it, or do you want me to show you first?"

"Show me." Heero said.

"Have a seat then." Audrey pointed to her bed while kicking off her shoes. She hopped onto the mat excitedly.

Heero watched as arrows started scrolling up the TV screen and Audrey danced around the mat.

"You have to step on the arrows as they get to the top." Audrey explained over her shoulder.

Audrey's game ended, and she motioned Heero to the mat. He pulled off his shoes and after slipping his gun into one of them, stepped onto the mat. He figured that since he was a gundam pilot, skilled in hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, and coordination, this game would be easy for him. Arrows started scrolling up the screen again. He stepped on the first few easily, but then missed a step and was thrown off. Audrey laughed as he hopped around frantically to correct his mistake. For all his coordination, this was new to him and almost difficult.

He managed to clear the level, but not by much. He looked back at Audrey to find her giggling at him. He turned back determinedly and selected another song. He was quickly starting to like this game. It was a good exercise, it was good at improving coordination and, most of all, it was fun. Before he knew it, he was laughing along with Audrey. He didn't laugh because he thought anything was funny. He was just happy that he had finally found something he enjoyed that didn't involve fighting and that that something had been given to him by the person he cared for most in the world.

The two continued playing, taking turns, laughing, but trying not to wake everyone in the house up.

Hours later, Audrey finished up one of her turns and looked back at Heero only to find him fast asleep in her bed. She stared a second before going to her closet and getting a spare blanket. She draped the blanket over him and turned off the light. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was nearly 3 o'clock in the morning. Suddenly tired, she went back over to the game to turn it off. She had intended to just turn the game off and go to the guest room to sleep, but she ended up falling asleep on the floor.

* * *

So. A little more Duo, and a bit of Relena too. Here's hopin' I kept them in character.

As always, thank you to all of my reviewers. Your input is greatly appreciated.


	15. All in the Family

Chapter 15- All in the Family

Heero woke up with the sun shining in his face. Without moving, he looked around, wondering where he was. After a few seconds he recognized that he was in Audrey's room…in Audrey's bed. He scanned the room more thoroughly, but didn't see Audrey.

He sat up, and immediately found the object of his search. Audrey was curled up in a ball, asleep on the floor, the dress that she'd had on the night before wrinkled and riding up, exposing her creamy white thighs.

Heero looked around once more to make sure that no one else was around, and slid out of the bed. He kneeled down beside her and shook her gently.

She mumbled and squirmed a bit, but didn't open her eyes. Heero frowned and tried to wake her again. Finally her eyes fluttered open. She looked around groggily before her eyes rested on him.

"Mornin.'" She mumbled, pushing herself into a sitting position. Her smile faded when she noticed how cramped her neck was. She groaned dramatically and rubbed it. "Why are we on the floor? Geez! Ow!"

Heero shrugged. He had no idea how she had managed to fall asleep on the floor. "Want some help with that?" He indicated her neck. "I know a thing or two about cramped muscles."

Audrey blinked and cocked an eyebrow. She lowered her hand. "Sure." She said with mock suspicion. She turned her back to him and sat with her legs crisscrossed.

Heero gently brought his hands to the base of her neck and started to massage.

"What time is it?" Audrey asked suddenly noticing how bright it was in the room. She was surprised that anyone allowed her to sleep late, especially if they knew that Heero was there.

Suddenly there was the sound of voices behind the door, and door flew open. Gregory loomed over the two, Lillian at his left, and a woman in her early forties with dark brown hair at his right. Both of the women were holding cups of eggnog left over from Christmas.

Heero leapt away from Audrey, and fell into a half-sprawled sitting position. He nervously stared at Gregory, who in turn glared suspiciously between them. Heero didn't know why the man always made him feel nervous.

Suddenly, the brown-haired woman pushed in front of Gregory, giving him a stern look. She then turned to Audrey with a smile. "He took up watch outside your room, peeking through the keyhole." She indicated a grumpy Gregory. "He was afraid that something was going to happen in here. Personally," She put her free hand on her chest and swayed slightly. "I think it's about time you found a man. Because after you ditched Eric, I was afraid that you wouldn't get married while you're still in your child-bearing years."

Audrey gaped at the woman (also known as her aunt Theresa). Heero had the same expression as Audrey, but quickly got rid of it. His eyes continued to dart between the strange woman and Gregory nervously.

Gregory continued to send suspicious and somewhat panicked looks between the two teenagers.

Lillian just giggled nervously and took a sip of her drink.

"Wow." Audrey said finally. She stood and pulled Theresa's cup out of her hand. "You've been hitting the eggnog a little hard, Aunt Theresa. I'm cuttin' you off."

Theresa pouted, but then smiled. She took her cup back and turned. "We trust you baby." She said to Audrey. "At least I do." She sent a glare to Gregory and swayed again. She sent Heero a wink and then left pulling Gregory with her.

Lillian stood smiling for a second watching as Theresa pulled Gregory down the hall. Then, she turned to the two, her smile fading. "Nothing did—"

Audrey cut her off. "No mom." Her mother looked like she was about to say something else. "Never."

Lillian stared at the two, and then judging that Audrey wasn't lying, smiled. She looked at Heero. "We have some of the clothes you left here last time you were here. They're in the room you stayed in. Let one of the servants know if they don't fit."

With that, she left the two teenagers sitting speechless on the floor of Audrey's room.

Finally, Audrey turned to Heero. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Audrey spoke. "So um…that was my Aunt Theresa. She's dad's little sister. They're as different as night and day so Aunt Theresa drinks a bit when she visits so she can tolerate my dad. Especially around Christmas since she's loves eggnog. She and her husband are staying with us. You'll probably meet uncle Freddie later. He's pretty cool." She rolled her neck, glad to find that it didn't hurt anymore, and stood. She walked over to her dresser and pulled out some fresh clothes. She looked back to Heero to find that he was still sitting on the floor staring at her. He looked like he was in shock.

"Heero?" She asked looking at him oddly. "You okay?"

He continued to stare for a second, the things Audrey's aunt and mother said replaying in his head. One statement stuck out, and he chuckled lightly. "Child bearing years?" He asked.

Audrey's face fell and she threw whatever was in her hand at him. She realized her mistake a second later, and blushed.

Heero blinked and pulled whatever it was off his head. His face turned scarlet when he realized it was her bra.

"Give that back." She quickly snatched it and scurried off to the bathroom. She stopped in the doorway and turned back to him. "I'm going to take a bath. You remember where your old room is right?" Heero nodded. She smiled softly. "By the way, I'm glad you're back. I really did miss you." She said, and disappeared into the bathroom. A second later, Heero heard the water start to run.

Heero was shocked for a few seconds, but he finally recovered and pulled himself off the floor. He figured he should go find his own shower.

* * *

Instead of going back into space, Heero decided to just have Dou mail him all his things. Duo had been a bit confused when Heero had given him the address, but he just shrugged it off as being a cover for where Heero was really staying.

It would take around a week for Heero's things to arrive, so Heero and Audrey were staying with her parents until then. They really didn't know where they would go when they left anyway—or even if they would continue to do what they'd started out doing.

Heero didn't really feel like going back to the same old thing. He didn't feel entirely suited for it, and Wufei's words were starting to get to him—or at least to make him think a bit. Heero had been trained to be a soldier. Jobs in construction or babysitting weren't exactly his forte. He was good at building things and working with technology, but his real talent lay in fighting, piloting, espionage…or maybe something a bit more reachable during peacetimes. Maybe, the Preventers. He was looking for a way to improve the Earth Sphere, and the Preventers were looking for good men who could help with the cause.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to take that step, however. He would have to think about it a bit more. There was no hurry.

For the moment, he was just hanging out with Audrey and her family.

It was odd. Audrey's family—with the exception of Gregory—had pretty much accepted Heero as one of their own.

Her Aunt Theresa was loud and boisterous at times, and occasionally embarrassing, but she'd taken quite a liking to Heero. She made a habit of pinching his cheeks (and occasionally other things) and had taken it upon herself to introduce Heero to alcohol. Heero decided that he would have to acquire a taste for the stuff. It seemed somewhat strong, and it dulled his senses which made him very uncomfortable afterwards. Whenever Theresa concocted some sort of drink for him he would try to decline, and when that didn't work—and it never did—to drink it slowly so there was more chance that Audrey would come in and rescue him.

Lillian was usually kind, although when she was irritated or upset, she could be a real nightmare. Heero did his best to stay on her good side.

Aunt Theresa's husband, Uncle Freddie was a true character. Like Theresa, he could always be found with some kind of alcoholic beverage in hand. Unlike Theresa, however, the alcohol made him mellow and cheerful, instead of loud and excited. He and Theresa had two sons who were slightly older than Heero, so it was easy for Freddie to come to relate to Heero.

Freddie enjoyed playing billiards and cards with Heero. He even decided to teach Heero chess, which was what the two of them were doing one particular Friday afternoon.

"So your knight moves in an "L" shape." Freddie demonstrated the motion to Heero who watched attentively. "Your pawns move forward one space for each turn, except for the first turn. When you use a pawn to take one of my pieces, though, you move one space diagonally."

Heero nodded. Audrey had gone shopping with her mother and aunt, so Heero was left alone with her father, uncle, and the servants. Even though Audrey had offered for him to accompany them, Freddie had deemed it out of the question. Heero would not be connived into doing those sorts of "womanly things," he'd said. He would much rather stay with the men.

Audrey had had a small talk with her father before she'd left, almost begging him to behave and be at least reasonably nice Heero.

Gregory was sitting quietly on the other side of the billiard room, apparently reading. He hadn't said anything mean to Heero yet, but Heero was slightly unnerved by the man's presence.

He was almost startled when Gregory stood and made his way over to the table where the other two men sat.

"You've never played chess before, boy?" Gregory asked.

"No…sir." Heero said, not entirely sure how to talk to the man.

Freddie laughed. "I'm sure he had more important things to do. You're a gundam pilot, aren't you?"

Heero was stunned for a second. _They know?_ He looked between the two men before speaking. "I was. My gundam was destroyed with the rest of the mobile suits."

Gregory was silent, but Freddie took a swig of his drink and started talking again. "It's a shame my two boys left so early. They would have loved to meet you."

"Why?" Heero asked, genuinely confused. Usually people steered clear of him once they found out he was a gundam pilot.

Freddie just smiled. "It's not every day that people meet someone like you. I'd say we're pretty lucky that little Audrey found you. Wouldn't you say so Gregory?"

Gregory just stared at Heero, apparently sizing him up. Dressed in dress slacks and a rather expensive red shirt, Heero didn't look quite as punkish as he remembered. Still, he wasn't sure about the boy.

Heero and Freddie just stared at him. Finally, judging that Gregory wasn't going to speak, Freddie turned to Heero and whispered loudly. "You'll have to excuse him. He's always been a little overprotective."

The statement brought Gregory back to the present. "And for good reason." He shot out. "She's my only little girl. She's too young to be running around the world with boys we don't know. I was a fool to let her go in the first place."

"What's a little fun, Gregory?"

"Fun?" Gregory repeated looming over Heero threateningly. "Is that what you call it, boy?"

Heero just stared, confused at the question.

"Oh Gregory. He's a respectable young man. Much better than most of the other boys out there, and I must say a far better match than Eric ever was. I'm sure he'd never take advantage of Audrey."

Gregory rounded on Heero. "Is this true?"

Heero was confused. He didn't entirely follow their conversation. He just nodded, hoping that it was the correct response.

Gregory cooled down a bit. He straightened his sweater and sat in a chair facing Heero. He fixed Heero with a cool stare. He figured that he'd just cut to the root of his concerns. "Young man, what are your intentions toward my daughter?"

Heero was floored. "…intentions…?" He asked his voice not quite as confident as usual.

Freddie quickly intervened. "Please Gregory! Enough with the twenty one questions!"

Gregory ignored him and continued to stare at Heero. "Do you plan on marrying her, or are you just going to use her and leave her. Because if that's what you're planning…"

Freddie cut him off. "This is hardly an appropriate time…"

"Say something son."

Heero's mouth moved, but he couldn't find his voice. He could only pull one thought from his shocked brain. _What am I being accused of?_

Again Freddie intervened. "Gregory, leave him be. He's not even twenty. He doesn't want to get married, and I doubt he's the type of guy to get her pregnant and leave her."

Heero's and Gregory's eyes widened simultaneously, and Freddie instantly regretted even mentioning that.

The room fell into silence, Heero and Gregory just staring at each other with wide terrified eyes. Freddie looked back and forth between them. He took a sip of his drink trying to think of a way to change the subject without causing anymore damage.

Fortunately, the very person they had been speaking of took that moment to walk in.

"We're back! Daddy? Heero? Uncle Freddie? Where are you guys?" The door opened and the three men looked to see Audrey poke her head through the doorway. "Oh there you are." She said smiling. Her smile melted when she saw the three men's faces.

Heero looked terrified, an emotion that Audrey had rarely seen in him—if ever. The expression quickly faded, however and was replaced by a look of relief.

Uncle Freddie looked relieved to see her as well.

Her father's face was what worried her the most. His face was pale, and his eyes wide. He looked as if he had just received some terrible news.

"…is everything okay…?" She asked stepping cautiously into the room.

Her father looked her over as if inspecting her for injuries. The motion confused her, and she looked to the two other men for answers.

Uncle Freddie just smiled at her and stood. "Everything's fine. We were just talking." He started heading toward the door, and subtly motioned for Heero to follow him.

Heero, grateful for the excuse to leave, quickly trotted after him, being sure to give wide berth to Gregory.

Audrey knew that Freddie was lying. They were all acting too suspicious. She decided that she would grill one of them later to see what _really_ happened.

"Mom and Aunt Theresa are downstairs." Audrey informed Uncle Freddie.

He wrapped and arm around her shoulders and started leading her toward the stairs. "Well let's go see what useless things they wasted my money on."

Audrey giggled.

"Speaking of wasting money," He continued, as if just remembering something. "You and my boys enjoyed your trip to that skating place right?"

"Fun Land? Yeah." Audrey said. "Why?"

Freddie smiled slyly and gave her shoulders a squeeze. "I could always get him to open it up for you and your friend here." He looked back at Heero. "Maybe tomorrow? Call it a Christimas gift for the two of you."

"Tomorrow?" Audrey said. "That's kind of soon don't you think?"

"You doubt me?" Freddie asked, feigning offense.

"Of course not!" She said with a giggle.

"Well I'll just give him a call then." He looked back at Heero, and winked. "What do you say? I'd bet you wouldn't mind getting away from us old folks for the night."

Heero nodded, still speechless.

* * *

Mealtimes were always interesting in the Harper household, but today's was a bit more special than the rest. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Freddie were catching a plane early the next morning, and Gregory was still fuming over his earlier interaction with Heero. Whereas, usually, the table was full of stories and banter, this evening it was tense and somewhat solemn. This was the last meal they would have with Theresa and Freddie until they visited again.

Gregory occasionally sent glares in Heero's direction, and Freddie tried to keep his attention focused elsewhere. Audrey was still more than curious at the men's odd behavior, and she was determined to figure out what had happened as soon as she could.

After dinner Audrey's parents headed upstairs to help Theresa and Freddie pack.

The servants headed off to their tasks, leaving Audrey and Heero alone.

"So…uh…what are we going to do now?" Audrey asked looking around the room boredly. She had no desire to go help her relatives, and she was fairly certain that Heero didn't want to either.

Heero shrugged.

"I know!" Audrey said after thinking a minute. "Let's go play in the snow! It won't be around forever." She started skipping toward the stairs. "I think I might still have an old sled."

Heero stared after her for a second before following. He figured that he should at least put some proper clothes on. The dress shoes and collared shirt probably weren't going to cut it.

After about an hour of snowball fights, snowman building, and sledding, Heero and Audrey had had enough of their snow-play. It was starting to grow dark, and they figured that they had probably better head inside soon. The cold air was nipping at any bit of exposed skin that it could reach and was even seeping through their clothes.

They both sat at the bottom of the hill where they'd landed after their last ride on the sled. Heero shook some snow out of his hair and pulled himself off the ground. He picked up the sled and looked at Audrey, waiting for her to get up.

Audrey didn't move to stand. She'd been nervous earlier to ask what all the earlier tension was about, but she figured that now was as good a time as any to ask.

"So…what were you three guys talking about earlier? You know, when I walked in."

Heero blanched, but recovered a second later. He looked down at her. "Nothing." He said. He extended a hand to her to help her up.

She ignored his hand and stared at him suspiciously. "Nothing?" She said, not believing him for a second.

He shook his head innocently.

"Fine." Audrey said, crossing her arms stubbornly. "Don't tell me. I'll just ask daddy."

Heero stared at her for a second and then looked around at the snow covered yard. He took a deep breath, and turned a scowl back on her. "It. Was. Nothing."

"Mmhm."

He scowled. "Are you just going to sit there?"

"Yep."

"In the snow."

"Yep."

Heero just turned and started walking toward the building. If she was going to be that way, let her. He got halfway back to the house, and looked over his shoulder. He was almost surprised to see that she hadn't moved. At all.

Rolling his eyes, he turned and stomped back to her. "Stop being childish. It's cold and it's getting dark. You can't stay out here by your self."

"Stop lying." She retorted. "And it's not cold at all. I could sit out here all night."

He just glared at her.

"I bet it was about me." She said after a second. She hoped it wasn't, but she had a strong feeling that it was. She really wanted to know what was said—partially just out of curiosity, and partially out of fear that it might hurt her chances of going off with Heero again. If her dad had found enough reason to distrust Heero—even if his reasons had no proof—he would never agree to allow her to leave with him. It wasn't that she couldn't leave without his permission. If she did, though, she wasn't sure what measures he would take to get her back. Alerting the police and putting a restraining order on Heero was drastic, but not entirely out of the question.

Heero didn't say anything, so she continued. "I bet my dad was trying to find some reason to keep me home and make you leave." She chanced a glance upward to see that Heero was just staring at her. Figuring that she was on the right track, she continued. "I bet that he—"

Heero cut her off. "Yes we were talking about you." He said plopping down in irritation beside her. "Your father decided to grill me on my intentions and morality, my past, my future, your future. Is that all you wanted to know? Can we go inside now?"

Audrey just stared at him. So she was right. But something else bothered her. "Why does that upset you so much?"

"I'm not upset." He said grumpily.

"Yes you are." Audrey scooted around to sit in front of him. "Why?"

"Why are you so nosey all of a sudden?"

She jumped back with a gasp. "FINE!" She said standing and dusting herself off. "Pout! Far be it for me to be concerned about you. When my dad decides that you threaten my welfare and kicks you out, don't come crying to me."

She proceeded to storm off toward the house.

"What the…" Heero watched her stomp away for a second, wondering how their roles had been reversed so quickly. Then, he jumped up and chased after her.

He stopped her before she got too far away.

"What did I do?" He asked, genuinely confused at all her mood swings. He vaguely recalled her explaining to him that girls have mood swings at certain times of the month. Hers had never been this bad though.

She stopped in her tracks and rounded on him. Heero backed up a step, shocked to see tears in her eyes. She moved her mouth, but no sound came out.

"What's the matter?" He asked. She was really starting to freak him out.

She just shook her head and turned to walk away. Heero grabbed her arm before she could take a step. He pulled her back to him and wrapped his arms around her. This had always seemed to calm her down before, and it also had the extra benefit of keeping her from walking away. The motion succeeded in keeping her still, at least. The minute Heero hugged her however, she buried her face in his chest and started crying.

"He can't make you leave." She mumbled grabbing fistfuls of his jackets.

"Make me leave?" Heero asked, while rubbing her back. "Who?"

She shuddered. "Daddy." She said. "He's worried that I'll fall in love with you, and that I won't marry a rich politician like he always wanted." Her voice dropped to a miserable whisper. "He's too late."

It was almost too soft for Heero to hear. Almost. His whole body tensed and he stared at her in shock. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't find any words.

His silence was too much for Audrey to take. She quickly dislodged herself and took off at a run toward the house.

Heero was completely floored, but he shook his shock off. He knew that he couldn't let her get away. He may never get another chance like this. He shot off after her and grabbed her once again. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, as he quickly wrapped her in his arms again. He held her tightly this time—too tightly for her to slip away again.

She wriggled a bit, but then gave up on trying to break free. She just slumped and stared at the ground while sobs wracked her body.

Heero wasn't entirely sure what to do. He knew that he had to do something. He'd never been very good at talking about his emotions, but he'd recently learned that following them was the best way to live.

"Audrey." He whispered, fumbling words around in his head. Nervously, he lifted her chin to look at her face. Fear, hope, and despair mixed with the tears in her eyes as she forced herself to stare at him. "Don't cry." He wiped the tears from her eyes. "I hate to see you cry."

She just stared, more tears replacing the ones that he'd wiped away.

He took a deep breath, his hand lingered on her cheek. "There's not much reason to anyway. Not if you just said what I think you did." He gave her a small smile. He didn't know how to approach the subject, so figured he'd just dive right in. "The truth is, I stayed with Relena for a few days before I came here. I once thought that if I'd ever love anyone, it would be her." Audrey looked away, the pain of rejection becoming almost unbearable. "But I had been wrong entirely." Heero forced her to look at him again. "The whole time I was there, all I could think about was you. Sorry if there's been some confusion. I wasn't sure that you shared the sentiment, and I've never been very good at voicing my emotions."

She stared at him, confused.

"I can show you though." Heero said, and before she could move, he captured her lips in a soft, chaste kiss. He pulled away after a second and looked at her nervously, hoping that he hadn't taken what she'd said wrongly.

Audrey continued to stare, speechless. Her lips were parted slightly, and a light blush was forming on her cheeks. After a few seconds, she seemed to comprehend what had just happened. With an elated laugh, she threw her arms around him.

Heero melted in relief. "Audrey." He said, his voice shaking nervously. "I love you too."

Audrey laughed again, tears of joy now streaming down her face.

Heero tightened his arms around her. He glanced around the yard and then at the house, and froze when he saw that all of the servants and Audrey's parents were gathered at the back door watching them.

Audrey jerked away suddenly. Her back was to the house, so she hadn't seen anyone. "What about daddy?" She asked worriedly.

Heero tore his eyes away from the spectators and looked down at Audrey. He shrugged, and then got a mischievous smirk. He sent a brief glance to Gregory, internally dedicating his next action to the man who was no doubt fuming. "Don't worry about him." He said. Giving her a grin, he leaned down and captured her lips again in a more passionate kiss.

* * *

I hope you all liked this one.

A big thanks to all of my reviewers!

Reviews always appreciated.


	16. Fun Land

Chapter 16- Fun Land

"I guess we can consider this a date." Audrey said—a little awkwardly—as she and Heero walked into Fun Land. Fun land had closed an hour before, but thanks to Uncle Freddie's connection, Audrey and Heero were allowed to go in after-hours.

After they'd kissed, the two had behaved pretty much the same around each other, although they still felt somewhat awkward to actually declare a relationship status.

"A date?" Heero asked looking over the large empty room. "Don't dates involve dinner and flowers?"

Audrey shook her head and, without even looking around, trotted off to a nearby door.

Heero quickly locked the door behind him and followed behind her a more thorough scan of the place. Aside from his time at the airport, it was the first time he had gone into public after the Marimeia incident. He felt kind of awkward, and still suspicious, especially since the place was so dark. There was no telling what dangers could be lurking about.

"Dates aren't always just restaurants, flowers, and movies. Those are just classics." She said. "You can do other things." She fiddled with the doorknob, before realizing it was locked.

"Like…?" He handed her the key.

She thought for a second, rolling her eyes upward, and in the process seeing for the first time how dark it was. "I dunno…this, picnics, carnivals, camping, monster truck derbys…It's kind or creepy in here" She finally got the door open. "We should really put the lights on." The moment she said it, the lights in the room came on. The rest of the building remained dark. "We found the skates." She said walking through the room scanning the shelves. "We'll just get these first."

Heero remained to the side of the doorway, first looking around the small shelf-lined room for threats, and then using the small amount of light that was coming from the room to get a slightly better look at the rest of the place.

"You've skated before right?" Audrey asked him breaking his concentration and causing him to whip his head toward her.

Heero dug into his memory to try to find a single time when he had worn shoes with wheels on them. He came up with nothing and so shook his head.

"That's okay." She said pulling a pair of roller blades off the shelf for herself. "You'll learn fast. Would you rather blades or regular skates?"

Heero looked at all the choices, and then figuring that roller blades looked cooler told her that he wanted blades.

Audrey began looking for his size. "Lots of people say roller blades are harder, but I don't really think they're difficult at all." She handed him a pair and then walked back into the dark room to find a place to sit and put her skates on.

Heero silently followed her to a small cluster of tables around the concession stand. He figured that, since most physical acts weren't difficult for him, skating would be easy as well. And if Audrey could do it…

He took the skates from her hands and sat at the nearest table to put them on. Audrey plopped on side of him and quickly strapped hers on as well. Then she snatched the keys, jumped up, and skated off to find the light-switches, leaving Heero alone fumbling with the straps and clamps on his skates. It took him a few minutes until he could figure out how to loosen the skates enough to fit his foot in and then how to tighten them back up. He had just accomplished his task, when the lights came on and rock music began blaring from various speakers. The lights were dim and colorful in the rink and arcade, but they were bright around what appeared to be a jumble of large colorful tubes and snack area. He could see a red light flickering out of the laser tag maze.

Audrey skated back to him and put the keys on the table. "Come on. I like this song." She said gliding backwards a bit.

Heero stood up, but as soon as he did, his left foot rolled backwards and his right foot rolled forwards. He flailed around before falling back onto the table. He sent a slightly stunned look to Audrey, and then frowned when he noticed her chuckling. She skated closer to him and grabbed both of his hands. He snatched his hands away and made himself more comfortable where he was sitting letting her know that he would not be moving.

"Oh come on!" She said rolling her eyes. "Wouldn't you prefer to learn when there aren't a lot of people to see you fall?"

He pouted. "I would prefer to never skate at all."

Audrey sighed and began to pull him off the bench. "Skating is fun. It just takes a little practice."

He finally gave in and stood wobbly and leaning heavily on her. She slowly guided him toward the rink, while he made jerky movements the whole way to keep himself from falling.

They finally made it to the rink, and she left him clinging to the rail while she sped about and did a few fancy twirls in the middle. "Come on!" She hollered to him. "Try it."

He pushed away from the wall a bit, but immediately lost his balance and went crashing onto his back.

"Are you okay?" He heard Audrey ask, and looked over to see her skating towards him with a concerned look on her face.

He sat up and glared at her.

She leaned over and felt the back of his head for blood, but he swatted her hand away. "Maybe you're just not coordinated enough for skating." She finally said.

Heero froze, his mind sent reeling at her statement. Never in his life had anyone told him he was not coordinated enough for something. Not friendly enough, sure. But not coordinated enough—Never! He was a gundam pilot! That required lots of coordination!

His glare got darker and he slowly stood. Every muscle was tense, and, once he was standing, he didn't budge.

Audrey, startled that she had apparently offended him, backed up a bit.

Heero closed his eyes and concentrated. He thought back to the two times he had fallen to try to determine his error. Both times, his feet had been parallel to one another. "I will become coordinated enough." He mumbled turning his feet outwards. He willed himself to go forward whilst leaning forward slightly. Instead his skates went backwards, and he fell forwards. He would have hit the ground, but Audrey quickly grabbed him around the waist and used all her strength to help him right himself.

"You had your feet right I think." She said pulling her face out of his chest and giving him a sort of apologetic look. "But if you're going to lean forward like that, you should bend your knees. You know. Balance and all that."

He melted slightly at her look, and nodded to thank her for her advice. He got his balance back and put his feet as they had been before this time bending his knees slightly while leaning forward. He didn't move. So far so good. He sent a questioning look to Audrey.

"Try to move your feet."

He did as she said, but both of his feet started rolling away from each other and he started flailing. Audrey grabbed him again before he could fall.

"One at a time." She suggested. "And try leaning toward the leg that you're moving."

He did as she said. His left foot rolled slowly at a diagonal while his right foot stayed still.

"Now switch!" Audrey hollered.

Heero just froze and looked at her.

"You have to pick your other foot up. Put it kind of in front of you. Like that." She demonstrated. "And do what you just did only the other way."

Heero nodded trying to imagine what the proposed action would look like. Finally he started just as before.

"Switch!" Audrey yelled, and he did as she told him. He wobbled a bit, but otherwise stayed stable. "Switch!" She yelled again, but he was already on it. She let him continue on his own.

Heero reveled at his success, but as soon as he lost concentration, he tumbled down.

Audrey skated over and swiveled around him with her hands on her knees and a big cheesy grin on her face. He couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face, as he slowly got back to his feet.

He continued to practice for a while, quickly getting better at it. Audrey would sometimes stay close to help him, and sometimes skate off on her own to speed around and do spins.

After a while, she skated over to the concession stand, and after climbing over the counter, made them both drinks. Heero slowly made his way over to the rail to see what she was doing.

"Come on!" She yelled to him skating back over the table they had been at before. "I've got us drinks."

"Are you sure you can just take those?" Heero asked, going to sit back down at the table.

Audrey nodded. "My uncle's friend owns this place. We always use it when no one else is around. We have a tab."

Heero nodded, showing that he understood. They both sat in silence for a while, Audrey staring into her drink, and Heero, gazing around at the rest of the place. He had let his guard down while he had been skating, and he just now realized that he hadn't checked out the rest of the building for threats. He wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight in roller skates, so he began taking them off.

"What are you doing?" Audrey asked.

"I want to go check out the rest of the building." He said putting his shoes back on.

"Oh yeah." Audrey said quickly slipping her skates off as well. "There's an arcade over there. I might have a few quarters." She didn't worry about putting her shoes on, but started trotting off toward said room. She was jerked to a stop, however, by Heero's iron grip on her arm.

"You stay here." He told her, causing her to cock an eyebrow in confusion. Heero started striding away, and Audrey noticed his hand go momentarily to something on his hip and then fall back to his side.

Audrey immediately realized what was going on and ran to catch up with him. He started to turn to tell her once again to stay where she was, but she quickly snatched the object. Before he realized that she had not been just following him, she had it clutched to her chest. "Why did you bring this here?" She hissed, jerking away as he tried to snatch it back from her.

He stared for a second, and then glared as he tried to get his gun away from her. She just glared back twisting away whenever he came near to grabbing it.

Heero finally stopped, realizing that it would probably be dangerous to try to wrestle it away from her. He took a step back, but seemed no less angry or dangerous than before.

Audrey wasn't frightened. "You still haven't answered me." She said trying to calm herself down.

"It's not safe."

Audrey stared for a second. "Heero. This is _Fun_ _Land_. It has arcade games and giant tubes for kids to climb in. There is nothing here that will hurt you."

"Nowhere's safe, Audrey. Even children can be dangerous."

Audrey was momentarily shocked. She didn't know whether he was referring to Mariemaia or to himself, but either way her eyes softened in sympathy. He couldn't take the look she was giving him, and so he shifted his gaze to the rink they had been skating in a few minutes before.

Audrey sighed, and stepped closer to him, extending the gun's handle to him. "Here." She said resignedly. "Go chase your ghosts." She had no idea why he was suddenly so distrusting of the world. He had always been a little overly cautious before, but now he was just being ridiculous.

Heero took the gun back, but didn't move to do his intended perimeter search.

Without looking at him, Audrey went back to the table with a pout.

Heero followed a few steps behind her, but she refused to look at him. He was growing irritated with her attitude. Here he was worried about her safety, and all she did was call him paranoid. He slammed the gun onto the table in front of her. Audrey jumped and finally looked up at her in shock. "I'm being stupid?" He asked testily.

She stared at him in surprise, her mind rushing with replies that would not make him mad. Instead of using one of them, however, she said, "Yeah. You are." His glare darkened with anger and another emotion that Audrey didn't quite recognize. "Look. I know you're used to people trying to kill you, but we're at peace now. What good is having peace if you're fighting wars everywhere you go? Can't you just try to let things be alright and have a little fun? Just for one night?"

Heero continued to glare at her, but eventually his glare faded and he slumped down at the table with his head in his hands. Audrey scooted closer to him and cautiously placed a light hand on his shoulder.

"How? How can I just ignore what's going on?" Heero asked, desperation in his voice.

"Easy." Audrey shrugged. "I do it all the time."

He glared at her, and she wilted a bit.

_What's up with him tonight?_ "Okay. I know." She said. "I should pay more attention. But that's not the point. The point is that we are here to have fun, and you're being paranoid."

He continued to glare.

"We're not leaving." She said stubbornly, crossing her arms. "So you're just going to have to enjoy yourself."

Heero sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

Audrey shrugged and looked around the room in thought. Her face lit up when she noticed the laser tag maze. She turned back to him with a sly grin. "Play laser tag with me." She pointed to the maze.

"Huh?" Heero glanced where she was pointing, reflexively, although he wondered how she was able to jump from subject to subject so quickly. "What happened to me not fighting wherever I go?" He asked grumpily.

"It's laser tag!" She said, already heading off to the front desk to get the equipment. "It's just for fun. And besides. I think this is what people call a compromise." Heero watched the doorway she had disappeared through until she came back with an armful of laser guns and receivers. "Do you know how to play?"

"I have to shoot you." He stated.

"Five times." She clarified. "And you have to stay in the maze."

Heero nodded and began to strap the receivers onto his chest and back. Audrey did the same.

"Okay." Audrey said once she was finished. "You have to give me a two minute head start."

Heero nodded again and she took off into the maze. He sat down at the table and picked up his real gun. He stared at it for a few seconds. He couldn't take it with him for fear that he'd grab the wrong one and shoot her by accident. He didn't want to leave it there though, in case someone would pick it up. With a sigh, he remembered Audrey's rant about nothing being there to harm them. He couldn't help but be paranoid, though, because he wasn't used to living peacefully. He looked around suspiciously and then remembered that he hadn't inspected the maze or anywhere else. Quietly, he pulled off his shoes and slipped his real gun inside one of them. Putting the laser gun in its usual place at his hip, he took off toward the maze. It hadn't been a full two minutes, but he didn't want to let her go in there by herself. He reached the entrance of the maze and looked in. There was a hall going in each direction, and no roof. He remembered Audrey going right so that's the direction he headed. He reached the end of the hall and pressed himself against the wall. He slowly peered around the corner. She wasn't there. There was another short hall and a three-way split. To the left was a room full of various sized tires stacked up for hiding places, and a hallway at the opposite end and on the right wall. To the right was another short hallway. Straight ahead of him was a ladder. Heero looked in all directions before making a beeline for the ladder. He climbed to the top and crouched down. There was a small bridge made of tin. It would made noise to walk across it, but not a lot since he was wearing only socks and there was music blaring. He looked at all the hallways stretching out beneath him, both looking for Audrey and making a mental map.

Suddenly the plate on his back blipped. Heero spun, drew his gun, and fired off a shot at the same time. His earlier paranoia was completely forgotten. He looked behind him to see Audrey crouched behind a tire open mouthed. He'd got her. Heero smirked, but it quickly faded as Audrey darted down the opposite hallway to where Heero couldn't see her.

He quickly jumped from the bridge onto a separate hall. If he was right, he could head her off. He quickly darted down hallway after hallway until he reached where he wanted to be. He leaned around the corner and saw that Audrey was looking curiously down the hall she'd run from. Heero took aim and fired. Audrey jumped with a squeal when her receiver went off. She quickly looked around but didn't see anyone; if she was right, the shot had come from behind her. Heero had already ducked around the corner.

Audrey went back around the corner she had come from. She didn't know how Heero had gotten in front of her, but somehow he had. She leaned against the wall and tried to listen for sounds of his approach. The music was too loud, and even if it hadn't been she was sure that Heero moved too quietly for her to ever hear him. She held her breath, not daring to move.

Heero looked back around the corner to see that Audrey wasn't there anymore. He smirked and slowly crept down the hallway while staying in the shadows close to the wall. This game was actually more fun than he'd thought it would be. He got to the edge of the hallway and paused. He held his gun ready and jumped out firing three shots. She was right where he'd thought she'd be. Audrey screamed and jumped back firing blindly. His receiver went off once, but hers let them both know that she had lost.

Heero dropped his arm with a chuckle, while Audrey worked to get over the surprise of him jumping out at her. When she'd caught her breath she looked up at him and pouted. Then her pout turned into a smirk. "One more game?" She asked. She reset her receiver. "Reset yours too."

"You're pretty sure of yourself." Heero said but did as he was told.

Audrey rolled her eyes and continued. "This time though." Audrey held her finger up for emphasis. "We can leave the maze. The whole building is fair game. Sound good?" She ordered Heero.

"If you think it will help you." Heero said.

Audrey scowled. "I'll beat you this time." She said with a huff.

Heero laughed. "Okay." He said and leaned against the wall. "Two minutes. Go."

Audrey jumped at his sudden command and ran further into the maze. She really had no idea how she would beat Heero, but she was determined to come up with something. She ran down the halls randomly and stopped when she saw a ladder. Luckily, she'd found the bridge Heero had been on earlier. She hurriedly climbed up and lay down flat on her stomach. Her heart sped up as she saw the top of Heero's head moving toward her. She looked on in amazement as he followed the exact path that she had taken only a few minutes before. _Can he smell me or something? _She thought giving her shirt a sniff. She took aim when she saw him nearing the corner. He paused and flattened himself against the wall as he'd done at every other corner. He looked around the corner and up at the bridge. Audrey froze for a second thinking that he'd seen her. When his gaze continued down the hall, however, she knew he hadn't. The second he rounded the corner, Audrey shot. She didn't even stay to see whether or not she'd hit him, but immediately launched herself backwards off the bridge. She landed ungracefully and stumbled a bit before taking off down the hall toward the exit to the maze. She didn't even pause when she entered back into the main part of the building. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew that she had to hide somewhere. He outmatched her in aim, stealth, speed, and strength. The only way she could beat him was with sneak attacks, and she wasn't very good at sneaking about. Luckily, her salvation loomed in front of her as she ran out of the maze, and she darted towards it.

Heero reached the edge of the maze a few seconds later. He had been shocked that she had managed to shoot him again, and immediately knew that she had been on the bridge. He scaled the ladder in less than a second and looked around. He didn't see her anywhere and so he knew that she must've left the maze.

Heero stopped and looked around the corner. To his left were the bathrooms. Straight ahead was the curious jumble of colorful tubes. To his right were the arcade, snack stand, and the roller rink. Heero didn't see her anywhere and so he tentatively stepped out from around the corner. His radar immediately went off telling him that he'd been shot. He jumped back around the corner and crouched down. He slowly looked around the corner again. There was no movement, and he could see no trace of Audrey anywhere.

"Where are you?" He mumbled to himself.

She wasn't in the bathrooms. She couldn't have been behind him because his front receiver went off. The snack stand and roller rink were too far to the right. That only left the arcade and tubes. There weren't many hiding places in the arcade unless she'd ducked behind one of the games. That only left one place.

"Smart." Heero said staring up at the tubes. He looked around until he found the entrance. Heero frowned seeing that there was nothing but open floor between him and the tubes. Heero pulled back around the corner and stood. He took a deep breath and darted towards the exit. His radar went off again right as he reached it.

He quickly pulled himself inside and was disappointed to find that he was too big to maneuver well inside of the tubes. He crawled up anyway, hitting his shoulders as he went. He awkwardly pulled himself into a very uncomfortable crouch when he reached an intersection in the tubes and peered around the corner. He didn't see her anywhere, but he wouldn't be fooled again. He shot in to the hall in front of him, and heard a movement to his right.

He smirked. "I heard you." He called to her.

"Then come get me." She called back.

"You're going to shoot me." Heero stated.

"Of course. That's the game."

"Why don't _you_ come get _me _if you want to shoot me so badly?"

"You want to shoot me too. You just can't." Audrey said. "I can sit here all day. I'm quite comfortable actually." It was a lie. She was laying in the slide with her feet and one hand bracing her from slipping. The other hand, which held the gun, was propped up ready to shoot. "You have to admit that it was pretty smart of me to come into the kiddie tubes where you can't fit."

Heero snorted. "I don't think you thought of it." He said. "Although if you did, then I admit it was smart. Since I obviously outclass you, it would make sense that you would try to hinder my maneuverability." He shifted a bit. His leg was cramping. "But I think that you just ran in here because it was right in front of you and then later saw the benefit in your choice."

Audrey frowned and slowly dragged herself back up the slide as quietly as she could. "Think what you want."

"So I'm right then." He said slouching down so that he could lean his head against the tube.

Audrey didn't respond. Heero waited a few seconds before shifting and peeking around the corner. Right when he did this, Audrey jumped in front of him with an excited shout, shot him, and took off back the way she came. Heero fired off two shots at her, both of which hit, before she dove into the tube she'd come from.

Heero looked after her and deliberated his next move. He had no idea where the tunnel she'd gone down led. He could go back, but she might be expecting that. Heero steeled himself and moved further into enemy territory. He reached the tunnel and looked down. Although he could only see that it turned sharply, he could tell that the tunnel was steep. He scooted forward a bit and, bracing his hand on side of him, leaned forward to try to see around the curve.

He let out a shout of surprise as his hand slipped, causing him to hit his chin on the tube and to slide head first down the tunnel. His socks were providing no friction and he only had one workable hand since his other was gripping his weapon. All he could do was shift onto his back. He landed on a mat with a small yelp and immediately his radar signaled that he had been hit a fifth time and that he had lost. He looked up in shock to where Audrey was sitting atop the mouth of the tube he'd just come from. She had a big grin on her face and began to laugh at his expression.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Heero continued to stare at her in shock, trying to contemplate what had just happened. His mouth moved, but no words came out.

She stopped smiling and slid off the tube worriedly. "Heero?"

Heero dragged himself into a sitting position and stared at her. "You beat me…" He said in awe. He rubbed his chin and then checked his hand for blood. There was none, but it still hurt. The pain of defeat.

Audrey smiled again. "Yep. Is that why you look so shocked or was it the slide."

"Slide?" Heero looked at the spiral tube he'd slid down.

"Yeah." She said sitting beside him and following his gaze. "You know. For kids." She looked back at him to see his contemplating expression. "You've never played on a slide before?"

Heero shook his head.

"Come on then!" She said pulling her radar off and dropping her gun. She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him off the floor. "Let's go again!"

"Go where?" Heero asked pulling his own radar off.

"On the slide!"

"But I can hardly fit in the tunnel!" He said although he allowed her to pull him toward the entrance.

"Nonsense!" She exclaimed. "Just crawl on your stomach or something." She quickly crawled into the tunnel calling for him to follow.

Heero bent down and peered into the tunnel. He watched her butt for a few minutes before she stopped crawling and turned to him. "Hurry up!"

Heero mentally shook himself and followed her into the tunnel.

* * *

The two didn't leave Fun Land until an hour before it was supposed to open. The two left the place exactly as they'd found it before heading back to Audrey's parents' house. Heero couldn't remember a time when he'd had more fun while not inside of a giant robot.

They went to their rooms right when they'd gotten back. Audrey fell asleep almost instantly, but Heero stayed up a little longer. He lay on his back with his arms behind his head just reviewing their trip. Occasionally, he had to stifle a chuckle.

His eyes kept straying to the wall that separated his and Audrey's rooms. He didn't know how she did it, but somehow she always made him feel different. She had an odd effect on him, unlike what anyone else had ever had. It was no mystery that he had fallen for her.

It wasn't only the urge to protect her—he'd felt that same urge for Relena. Audrey was different. She always made him reassess his opinions of himself and the rest of the world. She was a mystery to him, but he didn't feel the need to try to figure her out. He liked that she surprised him, both with her personality and her abilities.

He understood it now: the reason he always felt the need to be around her, and to follow her wherever she went, the reason her smiles always brought a smile to his face and his heart tore when she was sad.

He loved her. It still seemed new to him, although he was sure that he'd felt that way for a while.

There was a new element, though—a symmetry—that was entirely new. Audrey loved him back, loved him, and cared for him only because he was himself. His heart nearly melted at the thought.

* * *

Thank you all for reading and reviewing! They are very much appreciated! 


	17. Fallout

Chapter 17- Fallout

It was a gloomy winter day, and Heero and Audrey were stuck inside. The sky was grey outside, and the ground was a half frozen slush. Neither felt particularly inclined to leave the warmth of the house, so they had to occupy themselves inside.

They had spent most of their morning playing DDR, but after a while, they had gotten tired of the game. They had then resorted to watching a movie. It was a fairly new action movie. Unfortunately, neither could really enjoy the movie. They were interrupted constantly by either the one of the servants (undoubtedly sent by Gregory) or by Gregory himself. This had been happening every day since they'd kissed, but it was especially annoying today since they had been stuck in the house all day.

Although Gregory had been nervous before, now that he had gotten confirmation that there was something between the two teens, he was not giving them a moment alone together.

They had both had just about enough of it.

Heero and Audrey were curled up on the sofa—not too far apart, but not quite touching. There was a bowl of popcorn, some chips, sodas, and cookies on the table in front of them. They were both silent, staring intently at the TV before them, and occasionally grabbing a piece of food from the table. It had just gotten to the climax of the movie when the door slowly opened and one of the servants scurried in to dust the room. She left again a few seconds later, but the damage was done.

Audrey and Heero had both looked over when the door had opened, and had missed a very important part of the movie. When they looked back, the protagonist was laying dead in a fountain.

"What happened?" Audrey asked.

"I…I don't know." Heero said, and then stated the obvious. "He died."

"How?"

"He got shot, apparently."

Audrey groaned as the credits started to roll up the screen.

"We can rewind it." Heero suggested.

"No!" Audrey crossed her arms and pouted. "This is ridiculous! I can't believe he's doing this."

Heero just grabbed his drink and leaned back on the couch. He knew who she was referring to, and he completely agreed with her. He didn't want to complain about her father though, especially since he was living in his house.

"Let's go." Audrey said suddenly.

"Go where?" He put his drink back on the table and continued to stare at the TV.

"I mean leave."

Heero finally looked over at her. "Leave?"

She nodded. "We're not going to get a minute of peace if we stay here."

"Are you sure?" Heero asked. "I could always find an apartment somewhere."

"No." Audrey said forcefully, but then looked a little unsure. "Do _you_ want to?"

Heero shook his head. "It was just an option."

Audrey nodded and hopped off the couch. "I'm going to go talk to daddy. You can start packing if you want." With that, she left.

Heero stared after her before looking back at the table full of snacks. _Do I have to clean this up?_ He decided that he would just leave it for the next servant that came to check on them. He had to go pack.

* * *

Audrey walked into her father's office without even knocking. Gregory looked up, startled, from his paperwork, but then calmed slightly upon seeing that it was only Audrey.

"You know you're supposed to knock." He reprimanded lightly, but then frowned upon seeing her irritated look. He stood. "Is something wrong?"

Audrey glared. "Daddy, why are the servants following us around?"

Gregory feigned innocence. "What do you mean 'following you?'"

"They won't leave us alone. Just now we were trying to watch a movie, and someone would come in every five minutes! Why?!"

He wasn't ready to give up his charade. "What were they doing?"

Audrey's eyebrows furrowed. "I just told you-"  
"They all abandoned their duties to follow you around the house? I find that unlikely."

"They were cleaning, but-"

"They get paid to clean." Audrey huffed and Gregory crossed his arms. "I don't see the problem."

"Daddy you sent them to spy on us." Audrey declared.

Gregory gasped, but Audrey continued.

"Why don't you trust me?" She put her hands on her hips and fixed him with a hurt look.

"I trust you." He said, but after a second, he added. "It's _him_ I don't trust."

"Why? What has he ever done to earn your distrust?"

"He's dangerous! Did you know—"

"That he was a gundam pilot? Yes! So?"

"So?!" Gregory's voice rose a bit. "That means nothing to you?"

Audrey shrugged. "Should it?" Although it was laced with anger, it was a genuine question. "Why does that make him different from any other boy?"

"Audrey," Gregory tried to calm himself. "He's killed people."

Audrey was silent for a moment, but then looked determinedly at her father. "He's saved people too. You were probably one of them. _I_ was!" She looked away. "He may have made a few mistakes, but some of them weren't his mistakes to make. So what if he was a gundam pilot? A lot of people fought in the war. Even I was involved." She sighed. "Heero has helped so many people daddy. He's really a good person. Why can't you see that?"

Gregory stared at his daughter. He didn't say a word.

"Is that all that bothered you about him? Or is it because he's not the rich politician you wanted for me?" Audrey took a small step backwards. "He can't be what you want him to be, daddy. Neither can I. I'm sorry."

After a few seconds of silence, Gregory sighed. "You've grown up so much." He said offhandedly. "I just want what's best for you."

"I know." Audrey conceded. Her anger had almost disappeared, and now she just looked tired. "But you're going to have to let me make my own decisions."

"Couldn't you at least try to find someone with money?" Gregory asked. "You dropped out of school and didn't go to college. Honey you need someone who can take care of you—provide for you."

"Daddy I can take care of myself." It was probably a lie. "I did fine for an entire year." Another lie. She'd done okay for the most part, but Heero had taken care of her for a lot of the time. Plus she had relied on her father's money to get started.

"Audrey, I just don't think that he can-"

"Daddy, we're leaving." Audrey blurted out. She was tired of listening to her fathers doubt.

"What!?" Gregory's sternness returned. "Absolutely not!"

"Daddy! We just went over this!" Audrey whined. "You were going to let me make my own decisions."

"I never agreed to that."

"But…"

"I'm not falling for it this time, young lady." Gregory said sternly. He seemed to loom over her. "I've been good enough to let that boy live here, but you're not running off with him again."

"But daddy…"

He cut her off. "But nothing. I've seen what goes on between you two-"

"You saw…?"

"-and I don't like it. You are too young to be around boys,"

"I'm 17."

Gregory finally paused in his tirade and looked at his daughter. "Which means that you are not yet an adult."

"But I will be in a few months, and if you don't let me leave now, I'll leave then and never come back!"

Gregory was shocked. He took a step back, and just stared at his daughter.

"I mean it." Audrey took a step back too, but it wasn't out of any shock. She had lost her confidence, and was ready to bolt out the door. "But it doesn't matter, because we're leaving tonight. With or without your approval."

She'd gone too far. Gregory's face darkened in a glare. "Then let it be without." He said. "Without my blessing and without my money. We'll see how well he can take care of you."

He sat back at his desk and proceeded to ignore her. She would just have to learn the hard way that the boy was no good. Hopefully she would before too much damage had been done.

Audrey stared at her father for a few seconds. She knew that he meant well, but he had the wrong way of showing it. He hadn't intended to make her angry or invade her privacy. He was just worried about her. She knew that, but she didn't want his constant supervision or his disapproving glares.

She had made a few mistakes, she knew, but she had also begun to build something. She wasn't going to let that slip away.

Giving her father one last glance, she left silently, and headed off to tell her mother goodbye.

* * *

Heero sat on top of his bed, staring at his laptop. He had already packed what few belongings he had, and was ready to leave as soon as Audrey came to get him.

He had really been thinking hard for the past few days about joining the Preventers. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea.

Right now, he was looking for the nearest Preventers headquarters. There was one only a few hours away from the Harpers' house. He still wasn't entirely sure that he would join, but he wanted to leave the option open. Furthermore, neither he nor Audrey had any other ideas of what they would do once they left.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He recognized the knock to be Audrey's.

The door opened a second later. He'd been right. Audrey stood there with a tearstained face. She was dressed in jeans and holding a duffel bag.

"You ready?" She asked, sniffing a bit.

Heero nodded and turned his computer off. "You okay?" He asked. He grabbed his own duffel bag, and then a separate bag with his video game and walked over to her.

"Yeah." She wiped her face. "I was just talking to my mom. She helped me pack."

He nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly. With one last look at his room, he steered her into the hall.

As the two reached the front door, they were met by all of the servants and Audrey's parents. Lillian, like Audrey was in tears. She hugged both Heero and Audrey and wished them well. She hadn't taken it well when Audrey had told her they were leaving, especially since it was so sudden. Audrey had assured her that she would behave, and that Heero would take care of her. Lillian had felt a little better about the situation, but she still didn't want her daughter to go.

Gregory was standing toward the back of the group, glaring at everyone. It had taken everything Lillian had to convince him to bid his daughter farewell. He was still angry over their argument. Nonetheless, he gave his daughter a stiff hug.

Before long, Heero and Audrey were on the road again.

* * *

About four hours later, Heero and Audrey drove into a semi-large city. The sun was close to setting, and the sky was a pretty orange color. Audrey had taken over driving a few minutes ago, leaving Heero to stare out the window. He didn't really feel like sleeping, so he just gazed at all the different houses and small shops. Surprisingly, one caught his eye.

"What?" Audrey asked noticing that he was no longer slouching against the window, but was looking at something behind them. "Did I hit something?"

Heero just sat back down. "There was a shooting range."

Audrey shot him a confused glance before turning back toward the road.

"Public shooting ranges are outlawed in many places because of the recent wars and violence." He explained having caught her look. "But we just passed one."

"And?"

He just shrugged.

"Should we stop here then?" Audrey asked. "Let you have a little fun before moving on?"

"No. Let's get out of the city." The Preventers headquarters that he'd looked up was in a city about an hour away.

"Well we've got shopping to do. How about just one night?"

Heero thought about it. "You shop." He said grabbing his gun out of the glove compartment. "Pick me up after." He didn't answer her last question.

"Where is the place?" Audrey asked pulling a u-turn.

"Right there." Heero pointed to a short building set further back than the rest.

Audrey dropped him off in front of the building. "I'll be back in an hour or so." Audrey yelled out the window. He nodded and continued walking.

Sighing, Audrey leaned back in her seat, and drove off in search of the nearest supermarket. She didn't really have much shopping to do, but he'd seemed so fascinated, that she'd had to come up with an excuse to let him go.

After a few minutes, she finally spotted a supermarket and pulled into the parking lot. It looked pretty crowded. _People probably bringing back Christmas gifts._ She thought scowling. She really didn't feel like going in, but she figured that she'd better have something to show for her shopping trip.

Wrapping her jacket tight around herself, she made a run for the store.

* * *

After a few hours of shooting, Heero heard a familiar voice behind him. "Ready to go?" Audrey asked shivering a bit from her recent walk through the cold.

"Yeah." Heero said sliding the gun into its usual place at his hip.

He picked up the half empty box of bullets that he'd bought at the shop in the front and put them in his pocket.

He turned back to Audrey and found her gazing curiously around.

"You've never been in a shooting range?" He asked.

Audrey shook her head. "Never shot a gun before—besides laser guns and water guns." She said.

Heero was floored. "You've never shot a gun before?" Heero asked, amazed at the prospect.

"Never that I can recall." Audrey answered.

Heero just stared.

"What?" Audrey asked. "I never needed to."

"What if someday you _did_ need to?" Heero asked.

"I know how you do it…theoretically." Audrey said. "Just pull the little thingy. It's just like the laser guns, and I used those pretty well."

"The trigger." Heero corrected while shaking his head in a patronizing manner. "You're pathetic. And no. Real guns are very different from the laser guns. You have a kickback, and you have to load it…How can you have never shot a gun?" He seemed unable to get over his awe.

"Well I'm sure I could do it!" Audrey defended, her voice raising a little. "I just never have."

"Here." Heero said extending his gun to her. "Go shoot."

Audrey snatched it away and marched off toward the station. Heero watched amusedly as she tried to shoot it, but nothing happened.

_Gosh this is hard._ Audrey thought pulling on the trigger with all her might. Still nothing happened. Growing irritated, she looked back to Heero for assistance. When she saw his amused smirk however, she just glared and turned back around. _Come on Audrey. You're smart. You can figure this out…How does he make this look so easy?!_ Growling, she shook the gun and then beat it against her palm. She tried to shoot again, but the trigger wouldn't budge.

"It might work if you took the safety off." Heero suggested haughtily from behind her.

"Huh?" Audrey turned toward him, completely confused. "Safety?"

Heero's face dropped at her question, but he quickly recovered and strode towards her. "Here." He said grabbing the gun and pressing a button on the side. He handed it back to her.

"It has an on switch?" Audrey asked studying the small button that had before blended in perfectly with the rest of the gun.

Heero groaned at her choice of words, but then reminded himself that she had no experience with guns. Then suddenly a rather important question, one that he should have asked earlier, popped into his head. "Do you know—"

POW!!

The shot echoed throughout the range. The people nearby didn't even turn. Audrey stared in shocked silence. Heero clutched his leg growling every curse word he knew.

Audrey dropped the gun in shock. "I HARDLY TOUCHED IT!!!!" She said backing away a little. When he just glared at her, she leaned forward a little, but not too close to him. "Is it bad?"

"YOU SHOT ME IN THE LEG!!" He growled through his teeth. "WITH MY OWN GUN!!" He snatched the gun off the floor, and put it safely back at his side.

"Sorry." Audrey said quietly.

Finally, the people nearby noticed that something was going on, and were hurrying over to help.

"Someone should get him to a hospital!" One of the men yelled.

Heero just continued to glare at Audrey as the men helped him out of the range.

Audrey tried to ignore his obvious anger at her, and hurried behind directing the men to the jeep.

The ride to the hospital was silent.

Audrey looked over at Heero. He had put the gun in the glove compartment as soon as he'd sat down. Now, his jaw was set and he was putting pressure on his leg. She then looked back to the two men who had accompanied them from the shooting range. They looked panicked. She gave them a small smile that almost seemed real, and they relaxed a little.

After a few minutes, they reached the hospital, and the men helped Heero out of the jeep and onto a stretcher. He was then wheeled off to surgery, leaving Audrey and the two men standing in the lobby.

"He'll be alright." Audrey said in a voice that was a lot calmer than she felt. She knew he _would_ be alright, but she didn't know if he'd forgive her for shooting him—even if it was an accident.

The men nodded, and then giving her a few words of reassurance, left. Audrey looked around at the lobby. It had pale walls and dark smooth floors. There were plants at various areas along the wall and a large round reception desk in the middle of the room with escalators crisscrossing overhead.

She had no idea how she'd managed to screw up so quickly. They had only left her parents house a few hours ago, and now she had put Heero in the hospital. Now that she was pretty much alone, her confidence was cracking. She had no idea what she would do without Heero. He would probably never speak to her again.

She would hate that, and she would also hate having to crawl back to her parents so soon after she'd left. She'd been confident before that she could take care of herself, but that was when she'd thought that Heero would be there.

"Miss?"

Audrey was taken from her brooding by the nurse's voice. She forced herself to be calm, and then walked over to the desk.

"Is that young man a relative of yours?"

Audrey shook her head in the negative.

"Does he have any relatives or anyone that we can call?"

Audrey again shook her head while shrugging a little.

"Do you know him?" The nurse asked, looking at Audrey oddly.

"Yes." Audrey returned the look.

"Oh." The nurse said. "Well I'll need you to fill out these forms."

Audrey took the clipboard and pen from the nurse, and scooted down the desk to fill them out.

After a few minutes, she handed them back to the nurse.

"The waiting room is that way." The nurse pointed. "You can just go sit in there, until they're done with the surgery."

Audrey nodded and followed her directions.

What seemed like years later, a doctor walked in. Audrey stood. "The surgery went fine." He told her. "The bullet missed the bone. We've been ordered to keep him here for a while, but after that, he should be good enough to leave. I've already gone over all this with him, but he'll need to stay off his leg for at least two weeks, and if it looks as though it's getting infected, come here immediately." He scanned his clipboard to see if he'd forgotten anything. "He's in room 471." He said without looking at her, and then he turned and left.

Audrey wondered at the doctor's use of the word "ordered", but brushed it off. She wandered out of the waiting room and down the hall in search of an elevator. After a few minutes of searching, she found one, and a few minutes later, she was standing in front of Heero's door.

She knocked lightly at first, but didn't get an answer. She tried knocking harder. Still no response.

_Maybe he's sleeping. _She thought poking her head in the door.

She was met with the sight of Heero propped up in bed glaring at her. "Go away." He said crossing his arms and turning his head away from her to stare out the window.

Audrey stepped fully into the room, shutting the door behind her. "No." She said plopping into a chair beside his bed.

Heero didn't say anything, but continued glaring out the window at the city, which still lit up, even at the late hour.

Audrey mimicked his position, and stared about the room.

They must have sat there for an hour before Audrey could no longer stand the silence.

"Look." She said, hoping to get some reaction from him. She didn't. "I really am sorry. I never would've thought—"

"You didn't think. It's not that difficult to do. Anyone with half a brain knows not to aim a weapon at people unless you intend to hurt them—especially if you don't fully understand it."

"Well excuse me, but not everyone is born with innate knowledge on how to shoot a gun." Audrey said irritated. She'd apologized. What more did he want.

"Maybe if you had asked for help—"

"You saw I had no clue what I was doing! And… and if you had shown me that in the first place, instead of being such a jack ass, this wouldn't have happened."

"You're blaming _me_?!" Heero fumed glaring daggers.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them both to turn.

"Sally Po…Wufei?" Heero leaned forward to stare at the two people. He was confused, but he didn't show it. "Why are you here…together?"

Wufei just leaned against the wall and looked away. Sally came forward, casting a slightly shocked glance toward Audrey, and grabbed the chart hanging on the foot of Heero's bed. "I ordered the hospital not to let you leave until we got here."

Audrey whispered an "oh", finally understanding the doctor's wording.

Heero just stared.

"When we heard you'd been shot, we feared the worst. Terrorists, factions, discontented veterans, you know. But you appear to be fine, and not worried about anything. So I assume that whoever shot you has been taken care of."

Audrey cast a terrified look to the three people around the room. No one noticed.

"Not exactly." Heero mumbled keeping his face clear.

Wufei pushed himself off the wall and strode to stand beside Sally. "Were you planning to do something about it then?"

Heero didn't answer.

"THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!" Wufei roared. "What's happened to you?"

"Wufei." Heero started, but was interrupted.

"A year ago, you wouldn't have hesitated!"

"WU-FEI!" Heero shouted stressing each syllable. "_She _shot me." He said calmly indicating Audrey.

The two Preventers turned to stare at Audrey.

"It…was an accident." Audrey said quietly.

Sally chuckled, and Wufei just stared.

"It's really not that funny." Heero grumbled to Sally.

"Your…girlfriend" Heero and Audrey cast each other a look at her word choice. "shot you? What did you do?"

"It. Was. An. Accident!" Audrey said exasperatedly. "As in: I didn't mean to!"

Sally smiled and sat down in the other chair crossing her legs and arms. "We believe you. But what were you doing with a gun?"

Wufei moved back to his former position against the wall.

"It was his gun." She pointed to Heero.

The two Preventers gave Heero similar looks of shock. No one had ever touched Heero's gun.

Heero glared back at them.

"He thought it would be funny if I made a fool of myself at the shooting range. He knew I'd never shot one before so he gave me his—all turned off and stuff…"

"With the safety on." Heero said rolling his eyes.

"With the _safety_ on." Audrey repeated stressing the word with a glare. "And he sat there and laughed while I tried to figure out how to make it work."

"And so you got the safety off and shot him?" Wufei asked.

"No. He turned it off himself." The Preventers didn't know whether to be shocked or confused. "And the…the little…"

"Trigger." Heero grumbled. He didn't like how her version of the story was making him out to look.

"Trigger," Audrey continued without looking at him. "had been so hard to pull before, and then I hardly touched it and it shot him. See? Accident."

Sally smiled amusedly, and Wufei couldn't help giving Heero a mocking smirk.

"Are you done here?" Heero asked them with a glare.

"Yes." Sally said standing. She turned to Audrey. "It was nice meeting you…"

"Audrey." She said standing to shake her hand.

Sally took her hand with a smile. She thought she recognized the girl, but she wasn't sure. "It's good to see that someone can keep him in line." She whispered and then said louder. "We'll keep in touch. Feel free to leave anytime, Heero."

Wufei nodded to Heero and cast Audrey an amused glance as he followed Sally out.

"Well." Audrey said after a few minutes of silence. "They seemed nice."

Heero didn't respond. He just leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"I don't have pants." He snapped out testily.

Audrey pretended to ignore his attitude. "What happened to them?" She asked picking up his wallet from the table.

"They had to cut them off." His bad mood was even more present.

"Oh." She should have known that. Audrey took a deep calming breath and looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you want me to go buy you some?"

Heero just shrugged and looked away.

Audrey had had enough. "Look!" She slammed the wallet down next to him and gripped the rail of the bed. Heero whipped his head around at the outburst. "I said I was sorry, and I meant it! I didn't mean to do it, and I know you're mad. I was going to try to make it up to you, but if you want me to leave just say it and you'll never see me again."

Heero's eyes widened slightly before he schooled his face to lose all expression. He looked away from her to stare out the window.

Audrey's face fell at his action. She had hoped that he would forgive her, but apparently her hope was misplaced. With a soft sigh, she turned toward the door.

Heero heard her sigh and her light footsteps as she prepared to walk out of his life forever. As mad as he was, he just couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her again. "Wait." Heero said quietly.

Audrey froze at the sound of his voice, and halfway turned to look at him, praying that she hadn't imagined it. He was staring down at his fidgeting hands which lay in his lap.

Heero wanted to say something else, but he couldn't bring himself to. He glanced up at her and was almost floored to see that she actually looked afraid. He picked up the discarded wallet and tossed it to her. "You know what size." He said, hoping that she was satisfied.

Audrey turned away from him with a small smile. When he tossed her his wallet, she hadn't known what to think, but just that simple statement let her know that he wouldn't stay mad at her forever. And while it may not have been the love riddled response that many romance novels would have used for such an occasion, she couldn't help but be happy that he didn't want her to leave.

* * *

The two didn't stay in the city. As soon as Heero had gotten out of the hospital, he directed Audrey in the direction of the Preventers headquarters. He didn't tell her where they were going or why they weren't staying in the city. Audrey figured that she owed him at least that much, and so agreed to leave immediately.

Heero had fallen asleep almost as soon as they'd hit the city limits.

Audrey would glance over at him every once in a while, but she was mostly lost in her own thoughts. It was an hour before she reached a gas station, and she got some much needed fuel and a coffee. She'd asked the person in the station for directions on how to get to someplace quiet and secluded. There was no place nearby, he'd told her, but a few hours away, there was a small town that might have room.

After driving for almost two hours, Audrey's eyelids were drooping. It was the middle of the night, and after she had passed through another city, there had been nothing but trees. It was quite a pretty sight, but she was too tired to bring herself to enjoy it. She shook herself awake for what seemed like the millionth time as the road curved sharply. Finally, there was something besides trees. A small country house with a white fence was set back a bit. There was smoke slowly rolling from a chimney, and a snowman sitting in the front yard. Audrey thought the scene was beautiful and slowed down a bit. A little way away, there was another house, this one brick, but equally cozy. Old-time street lights gave the place a cozy feel. The houses continued, occasionally with a small dirt or gravel road heading off in a different direction. Soon, she noticed the houses getting closer together, and a few small stores, still with Christmas lights glowing cheerily. A few people were walking about on the streets. She pulled to a stop in front of what looked to be an inn, and quickly put on her jacket. She left Heero in the car while she went to check it out.

"Hello young lady." A kind looking old woman walked out of a room as Audrey scurried through the door, ringing a bell in the process. The woman walked behind a small wooden counter.

"Hi." Audrey said wiping the snow off of her feet and then heading toward the counter. "Do you have any rooms?"

The woman chuckled. "Dear, in this lazy old town, we have plenty. Is it just for you?"

"Um. No." Audrey said. "For me and my friend. One night. Preferably no stairs. He has a bad leg."

The woman gave her a look at the mention of her friend being a guy.

"Two beds." Audrey clarified.

The woman nodded and smiled. "We have just the thing. Here's your key. The room is right down the hall on the left."

"Thank you." Audrey said, relieved that she was finally going to get some sleep. "Uh. Where do I park?"

The woman walked over to the door and peeked out. "You're good where you are." She said. "Do you need help with bags?"

"No." Audrey said walking toward the jeep. "I can get it."

The woman nodded and walked back inside.

Audrey went around to the drivers side and got in closing the door with a huff. "Wake up." She said nudging Heero. He mumbled something but otherwise stayed sleeping. Audrey turned around to dig his crutches out of the back seat. After fighting with them for a while, she finally got them. She looked over to Heero, and sighed when she found him still asleep. "Come on." She shook him harder and lay the crutches across his lap. "I found beds."

Heero finally woke up, although he looked as though he would have preferred not to. "Where are we?" He asked groggily while opening the door.

"I have no idea." Audrey answered him, again turned around to get their bags. She grabbed only one for each of them, opting to get the rest later if they decided to stay a while. She dragged herself back into the cold and went back toward the door. "Come on." She called to Heero who was just standing in a denim jacket staring around at the town. She held the door for him as he hobbled in, still not used to using crutches.

The old woman wasn't in the lobby this time, but Audrey hardly noticed as she quickly strode toward the room the lady had indicated earlier. Heero hobbled at a much slower pace behind her. Audrey stopped at the door and adjusted the bags so that she could dig in her pocket for the key. She found it and unlocked the door.

"Oh how cute!" She exclaimed looking around at soft colored walls and wooden furniture covered in fluffy pillows. Her attention was riveted, however by two very soft looking beds that were covered in brightly covered quilts. She walked over to the closest one and, dropping the bags beside it flopped, down falling asleep almost immediately.

Heero rolled his eyes at her, and locked the door behind him. He sat down on the other bed to look at the room. It was indeed cozy with a small fireplace in the corner, and a window that looked out on a frozen lake. There was a door on the far side of the room that he assumed was the bathroom.

He turned his eyes back to the window and watched as a light snow began to fall. What little he'd seen of the town he'd liked. It was quiet and peaceful, something that his life to date had rather lacked. He looked at Audrey who was facedown on the bed with her feet hanging off the end. He was still pretty miffed, but not as much as he'd been before. He figured that if he could forgive Duo for shooting him—twice—then he could forgive Audrey.

* * *

Thanks to all my reviewers!

Reviews are always appreciated!


	18. My Prince

Chapter 18- My Prince

Heero had showered and gone to sleep shortly after Audrey had, but he still woke up before her. He wasn't used to sleeping in, and it was pretty difficult to ignore the bright sunlight streaming through the window.

He sat on the edge of his bed and looked around for a clock. There was one above the fireplace. He nearly groaned when he saw that it was almost ten. He'd slept half the day away. It wasn't like he had anything to do, but it was the principle.

He continued to sit for a minute or two. He was somewhat hungry, but he figured that he could wait until Audrey woke up. She couldn't possibly sleep much longer.

In the meantime, he needed to find out where they were. There was really no telling where Audrey had driven them. He really didn't think she had a very good sense of direction, so the odds were, she had gotten turned around somewhere and they were completely lost.

With his mission parameters set, he turned to assessing his capability of fulfilling said mission. He looked down at his leg and flexed it a bit. It was pretty painful, but he might be able to walk without the crutches. He'd done it before when his femur had been snapped clean through. He stood slowly and then put a little weight onto his leg. Instantly, pain spread through his thigh and into his spine. He waited for the pain to subside.

It didn't.

He sat back down with a light growl and glared around the room. When had a little pain bothered him? And since when did he allow people to get away with shooting him? Wufei was right—for once. He'd become a sissy! He would just have to do something about that.

But he would get dressed first.

With a determined look on his face, he reached for his duffel bag. He would just change right here…and if Audrey woke up, oh well! He would show her who was boss.

Quickly, he grabbed an old pair of loose jeans and a plain t-shirt. The shirt was rather simple to get on, bit the jeans required a bit of work. He bent his leg as far as he could…correction: wanted!...and stuck his foot in. He schooled his face to remain calm, but a light layer of sweat was forming on his forehead. With the difficult part over, he quickly slipped on his shoes, not even bothering to untie them.

He didn't even notice that he was doing everything as quietly as possible out of courtesy for Audrey. He's become so accustomed to doing things silently, that he forgot that he didn't care that she was sleeping or that he was still—kind of—mad at her.

He stood again, determined that he would not use crutches. Slowly, he eased a little weight onto his leg and tried to ignore the pain. Still, it wouldn't go away. He was determined, however. No little injury like this was going to keep him down.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he took a step forward. His breath came out in a small huff, but the only other indication of pain was a small twitch in his eye. He straightened majestically and looked around the room. His eyes came to land on his crutches.

They _were_ pretty cool looking. He liked silvery grey, he justified. It was a nice color.

With a soft growl at his own "patheticness", he reached for the crutches. He sent a murderous glare to Audrey's oblivious form in the process just to make it clear to her that he was using them because he _wanted_ to.

He stopped himself after a few seconds however. He had nothing to prove to anybody. He was a gundam pilot! He was using crutches because he _wanted_ to.

Hobbling, he left the room.

The minute he entered the hall, a sweet voice greeted him. "Well hello there."

Heero looked over to see an old lady smiling at him. He managed a pleasant facial expression, although it wasn't exactly a smile, and crutched over to her.

"You must be that young lady's friend." The woman continued. "She told me you had a bad leg."

Heero grimaced slightly in response.

"Does it hurt much?" The lady asked. "I can make you some tea."

Heero blinked at her. "Tea?"

She nodded. "You do know what tea is?"

Heero nodded, looking at her oddly. "I was just wondering how it could help my leg."

"Oh. You never know with young people nowadays." The lady laughed lightly. "The tea won't stop it from hurting, but it can help your immune system. And it will warm you up a bit. It's pretty cold out there. You weren't planning on going anywhere were you?" She gave him a disapproving look, and Heero shook his head obediently.

He hadn't known where he had been going.

"Good." The lady said. "You'd have never made it anywhere with that leg. It's so slippery." She turned away, and Heero scowled at her back as she started walking toward a door that was tucked away in a corner. "Follow me." She ordered him. "Ill fix you some tea, and you can tell me what brought you here."

Heero's scowl faded, and he stared at the woman for a second, before slowly crutching after her. "Where's here?" He asked as he finally reached the room.

The room he had entered was a kitchen. It was very cozy with a fireplace and an old time-y stove. There was a small wooden table just big enough for four people to sit at in front of the fire place. The woman was rummaging through a cupboard, when Heero arrived, but she turned and motioned for him to sit at the table.

"Shady Grove." The woman said recovering a teapot. She filled it with water and went to hang it in the fireplace before heading back to the cupboard.

"How far is that from Sanction?"

"Sanction?" The woman slid into a chair and placed two cups, empty of all but a teabag, on the table in front of him. "Is that where you're headed?"

Heero nodded, forcing himself to be patient with the woman and all her questions. She was only trying to be nice.

"It's difficult to find places to live there, if that was what you were planning." She informed him. "At least living there is pretty expensive. There is an important government facility near Sanction, you know, that gets a lot of attention. They bought up most of the land on the south about a year ago." She gestured toward the window idly. "The city was expanding this way, but thanks to the Preventers, it can't anymore. Most of us here are grateful. We like our quiet town. We wouldn't have liked to have a city very close to us." She smiled a bit. "You see some people are meant to live exciting lives, but others need something quiet and steady."

"So the Preventers headquarters…it's near here?"

"Oh yes." The woman pointed. "It's about twenty miles that-a-way." She pointed back toward the window. "It's a pretty easy drive from here. There's hardly any traffic because hardly anyone comes this way. You could probably make it in less than thirty minutes. But…what could you want with the Preventers?" She looked curious, but her eyes seemed to tell Heero that she knew more than she was letting on.

Heero just shrugged and studied the old woman. She was very nice, both in appearance and manner. Her hair was white, and she was small, and a little plump. She reminded Heero of the pictures of Santa Claus' wife that Audrey had forced him to color one boring snowy day.

The woman suddenly seemed shocked, and then a little embarrassed. "Oh I'm so sorry. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself." She extended her hand to him. "I'm Lucy Gorman."

Heero shook her hand. This was becoming more common for him, so he wasn't as awkward as he'd once been. Plus, he rather liked this woman—even if she was a little nosey. "I'm Heero." He said. "Heero Yuy."

Her eyes flashed for a second in recognition of the name, and then she smiled. Her eyes continued to gleam as if she had just solved some sort of puzzle, but she didn't say anything about it. "It's nice to meet you."

Suddenly, the teapot signaled that it was finished. With speed that was inhuman for someone her age, Lucy jumped up and scurried over to take the teapot out of the fireplace. A second later, she poured the steaming water into their teacups.

Heero dipped his teabag into his water with an awkward "thank you." He remained silent as he watched her situate the teapot onto the old stove to keep it warm. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. He had asked the question he had come to ask, and now he was stuck having a one on one, bordering-on-personal, conversation with someone he had met only a few minutes ago.

While the two waited for their tea to cool Lucy's questions got a whole lot more personal.

"So your leg." She started, twirling her spoon idly in her teacup. "What happened to it? You weren't trying to ski were you? The snow's much too mushy for skiing now."

Heero shook his head. "I had an…accident." He said trying to be vague, but not rudely so. "But not skiing."

Lucy nodded. She looked curious at his vagueness, but Heero intercepted her next question.

"This is a nice place." He said quickly and a little awkwardly. He mostly hoped to change the subject, but he really did like the place

"The inn or the town?" Lucy asked before testing her tea.

"Both." Heero said and tested his as well.

"The inn is mine." Lucy said. "It was my parents' before." She sighed a little sadly. "I don't have any children, but there is a nice girl in town who has promised to keep it open once I…pass on. You'll meet her later. Cynthia works here. In fact, she should be here shortly. She's very nice. Do you like children?"

Heero was broadsided by the question. He just stared for a second, before he realized that Lucy was waiting for an answer. He shrugged slightly. "I've never really been around any." He answered honestly. Besides the few months he'd spent rebuilding the town near the Sanc Kingdom and a few seconds he'd spent in the same room as Marimaea, he had never really interacted with children.

"Well Cynthia has two children." Lucy said. "You'll meet them too. I do love little children. They brighten this old place up more than you know."

He just nodded and took a sip of his tea. He continued to hold the cup near his mouth as an emergency precaution. The conversation had become much too awkward, and he wanted an excuse to not have to answer questions.

"Do you think you'll have kids one day?" Lucy asked. "That young lady you came with would make a pretty little mother don't you think?"

Heero just stared, frozen. His tea, although he had intended it as a defense, was all but forgotten.

Suddenly, a bell jingled, signaling that someone had entered the shop. Heero was pulled from his stupor.

Lucy jumped up from the table. "They're here!" She exclaimed and headed for the outer room.

Heero, eternally grateful for the interruption, finished his tea quickly and then followed her out.

When he hobbled into the outer room, he was greeted with the sight of Lucy holding a toddler on her hip while, a woman probably less than ten years older than himself was helping a young girl out of her coat and hat.

When the two young children were properly adjusted for the temperature of the inn, Lucy began her introductions. "Cynthia, this is Heero." Cynthia nodded with a smile, while she quickly pulled her own winter gear off and hung it near the door. "Heero, this is Cynthia," She pointed to Cynthia and then pointed to the little girl standing shyly near her leg. "This is Anna." Then she bounced the toddler on her hip. "And this is Patrick." Patrick giggled and waved cheerfully at the attention.

Heero nodded politely to them. He had no idea how to act around them—especially the kids.

"Come on over this way Heero." Lucy said motioning him to the counter. Anna pulled a stool out of the corner to sit on, and Lucy placed Patrick to sit on top of the counter.

Heero hobbled over toward them, but stopped when he noticed that Anna was staring at him.

"Why do you walk so funny?" She asked curiously.

Cynthia leaned toward her and whispered. "Anna that's not nice. Apologize."

Anna pouted, although she still looked curious. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Why don't you go find a book to read." Lucy suggested. She turned to Heero. "I'll go get you a stool."

Anna slid off of the stool and trotted over to a small bookshelf that was near the fireplace. She glanced back at Heero every few seconds as if unsure of his intentions.

"You'll have to excuse her." Cynthia said a bit embarrassedly. "This is such a small town, she's really never seen anyone walk with crutches."

Heero just shrugged.

Lucy came back with stools for both herself and Heero. Heero leaned his crutches against the desk and slid into the stool. The second he'd taken his eyes off his crutches however, Patrick leaned over and pushed them. Heero and Cynthia both dove for the crutches and managed to stop them from hitting the floor.

Cynthia pulled Patrick to sit farther away from the crutches while repeating "no no" over and over. "Sorry." She said to Heero. "They're a bit of a handful." She held Patrick in place as he tried to reach again for the crutches and smiled a bit exasperatedly. "Their father will be here in a few hours to pick them up."

Heero didn't respond, because at that moment, Anna ran back toward them excitedly. She scrambled back onto her stool, almost slipping and put two books on the counter. "I want these!"

"Which one will we read first?" Lucy asked patiently.

Anna scrunched up her face in thought, but before she could answer, Cynthia suggested that they let Heero decide.

Anna looked up at him a bit skeptically, but then slid the two books toward him.

Heero looked down at the two books and sweatdropped. "The Princess of Candy Land." He read the first one, trying to keep from sounding disgusted, and then looked at the second. "or…The Pretty Fairy Princess." He looked back to Cynthia and cocked an eyebrow.

She hid a chuckle and motioned for him to pick one.

Heero looked back at the books with a sigh. He figured that the candy one at least looked tastier, so he pointed to that one.

"Yay!" Anna hopped onto her knees and leaned toward him balancing precariously on her stool. She flipped it open to the first page. "Read it to us."

She looked up at Heero cheerfully. Heero met her big brown eyes for a second before looking pleadingly toward Cynthia. Cynthia just chuckled. "Go ahead."

Heero's face fell, but he tried to keep from being too grumpy.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who lived in Candy Land…"

* * *

Audrey opened her eyes and yawned. She was still fully dressed and was curled up on top of the covers. She sat up groggily trying to determine what time it was. The clock above the fireplace told her that it was almost five o'clock in the afternoon. She groaned. There wasn't much day left for her to be awake. Debating whether or not to go back to sleep, she looked over to Heero's bed. He wasn't there.

Audrey figured that he couldn't have gone far since his bag was sitting on the foot of his bed, and since he was somewhat hard put to walk. She stretched a bit and took off her shoes. With a contented sigh, she slid under the covers and went back to sleep…only to be awoken a half hour later by the sound of Heero coming in. She didn't move except to turn her head to look at him.

He didn't look as mad as before, although he did look kind of exhausted.

"You awake?" He asked although he saw her staring at him.

"Mmhm." She mumbled sleepily. Groggily, she sat up and brushed her hair out of her face. "How's your leg?"

"Better." He said although tersely.

They lapsed into silence. Heero crutched over to a chair and pulled out his laptop. Anna had forced him to read princess stories to her for over three hours. She wanted to be the princess, so he was forced to be her prince. After a while, Cynthia and Lucy had tried to get Anna to leave Heero alone, but she had grown too fond of him.

After they had finished reading, they had put together a princess puzzle while Anna taught Heero kiddie songs. Heero was ready for a little bit of sanity, and so as soon as the kids' father had come to pick them up, he had gone back to his room for a little peace and quiet.

Whereas he had been willing to forgive Audrey earlier, the last few hours of torture had changed his mind.

Audrey just sat on her bed for a few seconds. She wanted to say something to break the silence, but she couldn't think of a single thing. She watched him for a while as he began typing rapidly. He was obviously ignoring her.

Finally, she got bored with watching him and decided to take a bath.

Heero glanced up as the door closed. His mind was conflicted over whether or not to be mad her. Part of him was angry for obvious reasons. She'd hurt him. Not intentionally, and not in a way that he never heal, but she'd still shot him in the leg. And that was painful. Then she'd left him to fend for himself with an insane for year old and a nosey old woman—although they both had good intentions, they were not his kind of people.

Then there was the fact that Sally and Wufei—of all people—probably thought he was a fool. He would have definitely wanted to keep something like that a secret, but now, probably every Preventer knew about it. That meant that Miliardo Peacecraft knew, and by extension, so did Relena. There was no telling what would happen if Relena ever found out where he was.

He just glared at his computer without really seeing it. Now he would have to wait if he were going to join the Preventers. That wasn't all that big of a problem. He hadn't really been in a big hurry to join anyway. But it was the principal.

The problem was that he was probably going to be a laughing stock when he got there. He'd expected to be stared at. Undoubtedly, everyone knew who he was. His face had been plastered over the TV during the war enough times. Now everyone would know he was the gundam pilot whose 'girlfriend' had shot him in the leg. That wouldn't make a good impression at all.

Suddenly his stomach growled, and he remembered that he hadn't eaten anything all day. He had been in no shape to get anywhere, and either way, he doubted that Lucy would have let him outside anyway. Now that he thought of it, though, he could have asked Lucy for something to eat.

He hadn't thought of that, but now that Audrey was awake it didn't matter.

He slouched grumpily and leaned his face on his fist. He looked a lot like a cross five year old, but he didn't care.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened, and a freshly clean Audrey sauntered cheerfully out.

Heero hadn't moved from his earlier position, except his eyes had been locked unblinking on the bathroom door. When Audrey came out, he just continued to glare at her.

Audrey froze when she saw his glare. He still hadn't moved or blinked. She looked around the room and then back at him. Still nothing. She leaned closer to him and knitted her eyebrows. "Heero?" He was starting to scare her. "Are you okay?"

He still didn't respond…at all.

A million scenarios started running through her head. Some of those scenarios involved his wound clotting, the clot traveling to his heart, and killing him where he sat. Another involved a magical curse that froze time for everyone but her. She walked over to him cautiously, looking suspiciously around the room as she did so. She leaned down in front of him, her face only inches from his. His glare was still fixed, the same as ever. "Heeeeeerroooooo…" She reached a finger out to touch his cheek, and…he blinked. "AAUGH!!!" She took a startled step backwards, but tripped and landed sprawled out on the floor.

Heero was too cross to laugh at her, although it was tempting. "Audrey." He said, his voice betraying no emotion. "What are you doing?"

She just stared at him wide-eyed. "I was…I thought…what are _YOU_ doing? Scaring people like that!"

Heero looked down at her patronizingly. "I was waiting for you to tell me where the food was."

"Waiting like a zombie." She mumbled before she registered what he'd asked. "Where's the…food…? We have snacks in the jeep. But real food…?" She stared at him. "Hmm…" She thought for a second. It was much too early for this much excitement. "Food…"

Heero's stomach growled again. He blushed lightly and Audrey laughed rolling backwards on the floor. After a few minutes, she finally contained herself and stood.

"What do you want to eat?" She asked, grabbing her jacket and shoes and starting to slip them on. "I don't think there's any place for me to cook anything, but I can go buy something."

"There's a kitchen here." Heero informed her, and then thought for a second. He was in the mood for something…something… "How about sushi." He hadn't had sushi in a long time.

Audrey's face fell. "We're in the middle of nowhere, Heero. American nowhere. I'll never find sushi."

Heero's face fell as well. "Oh." He mumbled quietly. He hadn't thought of that.

Audrey stared at him—at the way he suddenly looked so sad. She frowned. She figured that she owed him something. She could at least try to find some sushi, and if not that, she could try to make some. The only thing was…she had no idea how.

She sighed lightly as though Heero had been putting some sort of pressure on her and she was finally caving in. "Fine." She grumbled pulling the door open. "But don't get used to this."

With that she left.

Heero just stared at the door, wondering where she'd gone. A second ago, she was telling him that it would be impossible to find sushi, and now she had apparently gone out to look for it. He shook his head and then leaned his cheek onto his fist.

He remembered that when Relena had been taking care of him, she had been at his beck and call, no matter what he wanted. He wondered if Audrey was doing the same thing. He smirked slightly. He wondered how much she would do for him before she got fed up with it.

She did owe him after all.

* * *

Over an hour later, Audrey bustled in with her arms full of bags. "I got sushi." She said, seemingly out of breath. He placed all of the bags onto the table in front of him. "I didn't know what kind you liked, so I got a few. I also got some other snacks." She started pulling her coat off before stopping and turning to him. "I went to Sanction, because there was nowhere around here. There's this huge…thing there. It looks like a military base almost."

"It's a Preventer headquarters." Heero said, pulling the lid off of one of the trays of sushi. He opened a packet of chopsticks and dug in without another word.

"Preventers?" Audrey looked back at him. "Hmm…I've heard of them." She hung her coat up beside the door and turned back to Heero as something struck her. "Those two people that came to visit you at the hospital, they were Preventers."

Heero nodded absentmindedly. He was too focused on eating to really care about what she was saying. She wasn't saying anything he didn't know anyway.

"You know that lady…I thought I remembered her from somewhere…" She stared at the ceiling trying to come up with where.

Heero swallowed. "Sally Po? She was on the Peacemillion." He pulled open another tray of sushi. It was a different flavor, and he wanted to try it out. "Before you ask, Wufei was there too."

Audrey stared at him, her mouth hanging open in shock at her own forgetfulness. She had never met Wufei, and Sally had been too important for Audrey to ever associate with during the war. Still, Sally had been in charge of the medical staff on the Peacemillion, which meant that for the short time that Audrey had worked there, Sally had been her boss.

She looked back at Heero to see if he shared her amazement. He appeared to be too busy eating to even notice her. She slid into the chair across from him silently.

After a few seconds, the silence was bothering her. Lately, if Heero was silent about anything, he was brooding, so she tried to occupy his mind otherwise as much as possible.

"By the way, did I tell you that daddy cut off my credit card?" She said offhandedly while playing with the hem of her shirt. She hadn't thought her father was serious about that, until she'd tried to use the card to pay for Heero's hospital bill. With all the commotion, she had forgotten to mention it. She had just been reminded of their monetary status when she had tried to use the card again to pay for groceries.

Heero looked up at her, a tad surprised by the news. He shook off his surprise and shrugged. They hadn't used her father's money much lately, only for unexpected or great expenses. He took a bite of sushi and then stopped mid chew as something crossed his mind. He quickly swallowed. "Who paid for the hospital bill?" He asked. He was fairly certain that he hadn't.

Audrey looked up at him. "I did." She stated, and then looked back down at her shirt.

Heero just stared at her back for a second. "Why?"

She glanced up again and shrugged. "It was my fault, wasn't it? I wasn't sticking you with the bill."

Heero continued to stare at her, but then dropped his gaze down to his food. He suddenly felt guilty. He didn't know why. It _was_ her fault. She'd said it herself. Still, it had been an accident, and she was trying her hardest to make it better.

He looked back up at her to see that she was staring at his sushi. _It was an accident._ He reminded himself with a sigh. "Have some." He said, pushing one of the unopened trays toward her.

She looked up at him suspiciously, and pulled one of the lids open. Heero handed her a packet of chopsticks. Audrey unwrapped them slowly and pulled them apart. She had never eaten with chopsticks, so she didn't really know how to hold them. She fiddled with them for a few seconds before Heero leaned over and took them from her.

"Gimme your hand." He said, talking around his own chopsticks which he was holding between his teeth.

Audrey extended her hand, and Heero placed the sticks correctly. He idly wondered, although not for the first time, that her hands were so small.

"There." He said, easing himself back into his chair.

Audrey smiled at him and tested her hold on the chopsticks. She was still pretty uncoordinated, but she would improve.

Heero watched her for a second, before he continued eating. He decided that he wouldn't try to see how much she would do for him before she cracked—although the idea still seemed tempting. Maybe he would try it some other time. For right now, he needed to work on repairing their friendship, not testing it.

Audrey took a bite of sushi and scrunched up her face a bit.

Heero smirked. "Don't like it?"  
She chewed slowly and swallowed. "It's…interesting."

Heero took a pack of sauce from the box and opened it for her. "Try it with this."

Audrey did as she was told and found that it was much better. As she chewed, she idly looked around the room. Her eyes landed on the clock, and was shocked to see that it was almost 7 o'clock.

Heero followed her gaze and then cocked an eyebrow at her. "You slept all day." He said.

"Where have you been all day?" Audrey asked curiously. He hadn't been in the room when she'd woken up, and she didn't know if he could drive the jeep.

He shrugged. "I was held hostage by the desk clerks and a four year old."

Audrey cocked an eyebrow curiously. She leaned across the table and placed a hand on his forehead. Judging that he didn't have a fever, she sat back confused. "…seriously."

Heero nodded and smirked mysteriously. He wasn't going to give her anymore details. He was just going to let her wonder.

Audrey continued to stare. She was waiting for an explanation, but after a few seconds, she realized that he wasn't going to give her one. She ate another bite of sushi and looked around the room. After she swallowed, she looked back at Heero. "We should watch a movie or something." She said.

Heero stared at her for a second and then looked around the room. "We don't have a TV."

"I know." She said, and then looked at him with a wistful expression. "But we can always watch it on your laptop."

"No."

"Why not?" Audrey whined. She put down her chopsticks and gave him puppy eyes.

"Because."

"Because why? It can, can't it?"

"Of course it can. But…I…I said 'no.'"

Audrey pouted some more.

"That's not what it's made for." He tried to explain, but he realized that his explanation was flimsy.

She looked at him disappointedly.

He just stared back, determined not to bend.

Audrey switched tactics. "Fine." She said standing and pushing her sushi toward him. She went to her bag and started digging through it.

Heero watched her for a second curiously. When he saw that she pulled out some clothes, he finally decided to question her actions.

"I'm going to bed." She explained.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I don't feel like going anywhere, and there's nothing else to do here."

"So you're going to bed?"

"Mmhm. I'm tired. I went all the way to Sanction to find sushi for you." She walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Heero continued to eat, glancing at the door every few seconds. If she was trying to make him feel guilty, it was working. _How does she always turn things around like this? She's supposed to feel guilty. Not me._ With a sigh, he got up and dug his laptop out of his bag.

A few minutes later, Audrey came back out in her pajamas.

Heero looked up as she came out, and turned his laptop toward her. "Here." He said as if he weren't happy with himself for giving in to her.

She beamed a smile and skipped over to him. "I knew you'd come around." She said. "I only brought a few movies, but they're all in the jeep." She started looking around for her shoes. She found them and quickly slipped them on. She ran over to her jacket. Heero figured that she would have some sense and put it on. He was wrong. She just grabbed the keys out of the pocket and skipped out of the room before he could say anything.

She returned a few minutes later, shivering. Heero chuckled at her. "You cold?"

She nodded and slipped her shoes off. Still shivering, she ran to jump into her bed. She peeked out from under the covers at him. "Go put some pajamas on. We can have a slumber party"

"A what?" He had risen from his chair to go find some pajamas, but he stopped to stare at her at the term 'slumber party.'

"Usually it's just girls, but guys can do it too I suppose. A slumber party is when a group of people put on pajamas and just hang out. Usually, you fix each other's hair—and speaking of which, you need a haircut-" Heero ran a hand through his hair, noticing that it was getting pretty long. "—and you paint your fingernails," Heero cocked an eyebrow at her worriedly. "—but we won't do that, because I don't have any polish, and I guess, 'cause you're a guy—and you watch movies, and eat snacks, both of which I brought." She pulled a bag out from her bed and sent him a cheesy smile. She had been in such a hurry to get warm that she had taken them with her in her mad rush to her bed.

Heero just rolled his eyes at her and headed into the bathroom to change.

Audrey pulled a bag of chips and another bag of cookies out and laid them out on the bed. She laid the movies out too.

Heero came out a second later, and Audrey motioned him over to her. "Turn the light off." She threw back the covers and patted the spot beside her. Heero obediently did as told, grabbed his laptop, and went to sit beside her. It wasn't that long ago that he would have been embarrassed to so much as sit in the same bed as Audrey, but since they'd known each other, they had shared a bed so often that it didn't really seem awkward anymore.

"Pick one." Audrey, almost bouncing in excitement, pointed to her movies.

Heero looked them over and then picked one about drag racing. He figured that it looked interesting, and the cars on the cover were pretty cool looking. Feeling a little like he was disobeying someone's orders, he put the movie into his computer. He watched it almost worriedly, half expecting a block to come up and for Dr. J's admonishing face to appear. Heero had gotten his laptop strictly for work based purposes, not for his enjoyment.

The movie came on without any blocks or admonishing ghosts, and Heero breathed a sigh of relief.

He pushed all his worries away. Dr. J was dead, and the computer was his. He could do what he wanted with it.

He tensed when Audrey quickly reached over, **_touched_** his laptop, and enlarged the playing screen. He just stared at the computer in shock. _No one _touched his computer! He looked over at her angrily, but his anger melted when he did. She was leaning back into a pillow, the covers pulled up to her neck, still shivering slightly, and staring innocently at the movie.

He'd let it go this once. As long as she didn't do it again.

He turned to watch the movie, and was almost floored a second later when he saw her hand shoot across again and turn the volume louder. His anger skyrocketed and he looked toward her again to find her in the same position. Despite his anger he found himself chuckling.

She looked over at the sound. "What?"

He just shook his head. "Nothing." He really didn't know why he was laughing. He hated it when people touched his computer, and she'd just done it twice. He should be…beating her up...or something.

Instead, he just got more comfortable and watched the movie.

Almost two hours later, the movie ended. Heero shifted, ready to get out of her bed and go back to his.

"Where you going?" Audrey asked.

"To…bed?"

"No!"

"No?"

"No. We watched your movie, now we have to watch mine."

"But…they're all your movies."

"I mean, we watched the movie you picked. Now we have to watch one I pick."

Heero got comfortable again and slid down to put his head on the pillow. He didn't have anywhere to go in the morning, and it wasn't even nine o'clock yet.

Audrey picked a movie and put it in herself. Heero carefully watched the movement, but he, again, didn't say anything.

The movie came on. It seemed oddly familiar to Heero. Green hills and church bells.

Audrey turned to him. "The last time we watched this, you fell asleep in the beginning." She explained, answering his unspoken question.

Heero slid down some more, pulling the covers higher. The music was making him suddenly tired.

Audrey cheerfully stared at the computer screen as a woman was seen singing and dancing on a hill. A few minutes later, the scene switched, and a group of nuns began singing in a convent. She hummed along with both songs. This was one of her favorite movies. She looked over at Heero to tell him so, only to find him asleep. She just stared at him, slack jawed. The first time was excusable. He'd been sick. But now…" She sighed and poked him.

He grunted and rolled over onto his side facing her. He didn't wake up.

She frowned at him.

With another sigh, she slid onto her back, propped her knees us and pulled the computer onto her lap. She would just watch it without him.

Her movement jostled Heero a bit, and he squirmed closer to her. He laid an arm across her stomach and snuggled his face into her neck.

Audrey noticed that he was always more cuddly when he was asleep. Every time they had slept in the same bed, she always somehow ended up wrapped in his arms.

She didn't mind at all. It was actually quite comfortable.

She pulled her arm out from under him and instead slid it around his neck. She brought her hand up to play in his hair and was again reminded that he needed a haircut. It was almost sad. His hair was so soft and pretty. She didn't think he liked his hair completely obscuring his vision though, and it was almost there.

After a few minutes, she turned the movie off with a soft sigh. She'd intended to continue watching it, but Heero's warmth and soft breathing was making her sleepy. They could always watch it tomorrow, she reckoned.

As quietly, and with as little movement as possible, she knocked all the food and movies onto the floor and slid his laptop onto the bedside table.

She snuggled back into her pillow. All the movement caused Heero to tighten his arm around her waist. He wiggled back under the covers—which Audrey had knocked back when she'd moved—and rested his head on her chest.

_This is new._ Audrey thought, blushing slightly when he nuzzled her face into her chest. _Oh well. _She brought her hand back into his hair and combed through it lightly as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Well that took a little longer than usual. Sorry.

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me though, and as always thank you to my reviewers.

Reviews always appreciated.


	19. One Small Step

Chapter 19- One Small Step

The first sensation Heero had upon waking was warmth—and that his pillow was thumping and gently rising up and down. It was somewhat soothing, and in his not-so-alert state, he thought nothing of it. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face into said pillow, only to have it whine and wiggle.

Wiggling, whining pillows were fairly odd, his foggy brain reasoned, and they were somewhat uncomfortable when they wouldn't stop moving. It would be easier to sleep if he held it still.

He wrapped his arms tightly around it, only to have the pillow whine louder. "Heero what are you doing?"

Now his pillow was talking to him. _What an odd thing to happen so early in the morning._ A tad irritated, but still somewhat curious about his newly magical pillow, he pried his eyes open slightly, and bracing one hand on the pillow, pushed himself up a bit.

Oddly enough, his pillow grunted at him putting so much weight on it.

He stared for a second, before suddenly coming alert. Realizing where exactly his hand was, and what Audrey would do if she came to her senses and saw it there, he quickly jerked it back.

His cheeks turned a light scarlet, and he looked, a tad guiltily down at Audrey.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly with one hand while holding her formerly squished breast with the other, and squinted at him. She didn't seem to even register what had just happened. That was all the better for him. "What time is it?" She asked hoarsely.

He looked over at the clock. It was nearly 8 AM. He told her so, and she slowly sat up. She looked around the room for a second before seeming to think better of the idea of actually waking up and flopping back down on the bed. She rolled over onto her stomach and pulled the blankets completely over her head.

Heero stared at her silently. _She's going back to sleep? She couldn't possibly be tired after sleeping all day yesterday. _Slowly, a frown formed. "Wake up." He demanded poking her shoulder lightly.

"Why?" She yawned.

"You slept all day yesterday."

She mumbled something, but didn't move.

"Are you sick?" He asked

She moaned something that sounded akin to "no."

"Then why are you sleeping so much."

"It's early." She groaned, throwing back the blanket and glaring at him.

Heero snatched the blankets and held them before she could pull them back. "Come on." He demanded again. "Get up."

"Why?" She whined trying to pull the covers back. When she couldn't, she curled into a miserable ball. "Just a few more minutes."

Heero kicked the blankets all the way to the edge of the bed, and out of her reach. "Stop being lazy." He poked her side, only to have her flinch away with a small squeal.

He blinked at her odd reaction. He hadn't poked her hard. He was sure of it. "Are you hurt?" He asked. Her squeal would make sense if she were. He leaned closer, a tad concerned. Sure she was a klutz sometimes, but when had she had time to hurt herself?

"No." She said, although her voice had a bit of a chuckle to it.

"Then why did you scream when I touched you?"

"I didn't scream." She said. She finally gave up on going back to sleep and sat up.

Heero stared at her for a second. He decided that would do it again to see if she had the same reaction. Quicker that she could react, he darted a hand out and poked her side again.

She squealed again, and jumped away from him, falling over in the process.

Heero scowled at her. Something was off. Again, before she could react, he held her down where she had fallen and pulled her shirt up a bit.

She gasped and started trying to wriggle away, but Heero held her still. "What are you doing?"

He ignored her, and just stared at where he had poked her. It looked fine. Perfect, smooth, white skin. No bruises, no swelling, no signs of broken bones. He ran a finger down her side, poking each rib lightly to be sure it was intact.

Audrey's response to this was completely bizarre. He wondered for a second if he was still sleeping, and this was some odd dream.

Instead of flinching in pain as he had expected, she instead burst into uncontrollable laughter. She kicked and flailed, making Heero jump back a bit.

He scooted a safe distance away from her and just stared as her laughter died down and she caught her breath. Finally sobered, she sat up, straightening her shirt, and wiped tears from her eyes. Still a little out of breath, she tried to scowl at him. It didn't work, because one look at Heero's shocked face caused her begin laughing again.

He continued to stare, not entirely sure what was going on. She didn't seem inclined to offer an explanation either. "What's wrong with you? Why are you laughing?"

She frowned slightly. "Because you were tickling me. Duh."

He blinked, and she stared.

"You do know what tickling is right?" She asked after a few minutes of his stoic silence.

He thought for a second. He seemed to recall something, but he wasn't exactly sure what.

When his blank look didn't change, Audrey sighed. "Heero, Heero, Heero." She chided. "How can you not know what tickling is?" She scooted a little closer, a plan formulating in her head. "It's when…when…hmm. This is harder to explain than I thought. I guess it's like a reflex when you're touched a certain way in a certain place."

Heero cocked an eyebrow.

"Not like that!" She rolled her eyes. "It's different for everyone." She subtly scooted closer again, while making a wild motion with her hands to distract him. "Not everyone's ticklish, of course. Children are, but some grow out of it. I'm not sure how. I never did." She moved subtly forward again.

Heero finally noticed that she was a lot closer to him than she had been a few seconds ago. Before he could say anything, though, she sprang on him. Heero easily caught her slight weight, but, for fear of hurting her, he didn't grab her tightly. Thus she was easily able to wrench her arms free and reach for his sides.

Before Heero knew what was happening, he was laughing hysterically. He lost his grip on Audrey and she crawled up to sit on his stomach while attacking his sides. Heero writhed and laughed. He could have easily pushed her off, even though her tickle attack had seemed to sap his strength. He didn't want to accidentally put too much force behind it, however, and therefore allowed her to continue.

After she was satisfied that her attack was successful, Audrey let up. She grinned down at him as his chuckles died down and he caught his breath. "You're ticklish." She stated, seemingly surprised by the fact. "Who would have thought?" She didn't move to get off him, and instead darted a few pokes around his stomach and sides to try to find just where his tickle zones were.

Before she knew what happened, however, Heero had turned the tables on her. He knocked her hands away and darted his hands to her sides. With a howl of laughter, mixed with a little shock, Audrey rolled backwards…right onto his leg.

Heero grunted a bit at the sudden pain, but didn't say anything. Instead, he simply moved his hands from her sides to under her armpits and hoisted her off.

Audrey seemed confused for a second, but then realized where she'd been. "Oops." She crossed her legs and sent him a sheepish smile. "Is it any better?"

Heero shrugged.

"We should probably change the bandage." Audrey said. "I think I left the first aid kit in the jeep." She slid off the bed and put her shoes on. "Be right back." She promised before grabbing her jacket and scurrying out of the room.

Heero just stared at the door. He hadn't actually agreed to have his bandage changed, but it didn't seem as though she were giving him a choice. He supposed that it probably needed to be done, so he wouldn't complain.

A minute later, she ran back in with a white box in hand. She plopped it beside him on the bed and started taking off her jacket.

Heero boredly flicked the box open and looked inside. "Audrey." He didn't move his gaze from the box.

Audrey looked over at him, confused at the unusual tone of his voice. Since when did he laugh when he talked?

Following his gaze, she peered into the first aid kit she had brought in. She hadn't looked inside it when she'd grabbed it out of the jeep. From Heero's expression, there was something odd, and perhaps a tad ironic in the kit. "What?"

"We don't have any bandages."

Audrey examined the box again, and sighed when she realized he was right. "We can go to Sanction and get some." She suggested, turning and heading toward her bag. "We'll get breakfast while we're there." She grabbed a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

Heero stared at the door for a second, and then looked down at his leg. Sending one more sly glance to the bathroom, he stood up. Slowly, he put weight on his leg. It could stand a bit more than before, but he still didn't think it would be wise to walk without crutches. With a small frown, he sat back down and waited for her to finish changing.

* * *

A few hours later, the two were sitting in a small café. Heero had intentionally picked one right across the street from the Preventers HQ. He hadn't really known what it would look like. When he'd first heard of the Preventers, he'd expected just an office building full of paperwork. Then he'd seen how Noin and Sally had actually done fieldwork as Preventers, and his opinion of them started warming a bit. 

Audrey had told him it looked like a military base, but he hadn't really taken her words to heart. He'd figured that she had never actually seen a military base. Now he believed her. The place was almost an exact replica of an Alliance base—minus the mobile suits. He could see the towering buildings that made up the complex lined in neat rows near the street and in the distance. A few skyscrapers marked the medical, research, records, and office buildings that made up that wing of the Preventers organization. There were also large warehouses that probably held jets, spacecraft, and all the Preventers' various vehicles. He spotted a natatorium, and a building right beside it that was probably a gym. He figured that recruit barracks were somewhere behind them. There was a shooting range on the other side of the gym. Men in uniformed sweat suits jogged in formation around the grounds. The entire place was surrounded by a tall chain fence and, with guards patrolling the entrance. The chain fence that marked the boundary for the base was just across the street. He had picked the restaurant intentionally, so that he could see the Preventer's grounds.

He couldn't help but stare, even after he had made note of all the details and drawn a mental map of the area.

"It's big isn't it?" Audrey's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "They went all out. What on earth did they need such a big base for?"

Heero looked back at her. "I'm not sure, but it's all necessary I'd bet. It's a new bureau, so it won't be easy for them to get funding. Still, they've probably got the Preacecrafts, and other rich Pacifists funding them. Quatre probably donated a bit too."

"Quatre?"

Heero nodded before he realized that she probably didn't know who Quatre was. "He is the heir to the Winner foundation." He explained. "He was also a gundam pilot."

She nodded with a small "oh." But the name 'Winner' seemed to spark something. She scrunched up her eyebrows. "Winner…Winner…Quatre Winner…OH!" She exclaimed in excitement, startling Heero a bit. "I think I know him. Maybe…from a long time ago. And then maybe from recently too."

"He was on Peacemillion." Heero said, to help her a bit, and then against his better judgment, he added. "He was a gundam pilot."

"No, it wasn't there." She thought a bit. "Does he have really light blonde hair and blue eyes?"

Heero nodded.

"Okay. It's coming back to me. The Winners were really into pacifism, and so were my parents. I don't know if I actually talked to him, but I do remember a blonde haired Winner boy at a few of the banquets my parents took me to. I remember more Winner girls than boys. Actually, I think he's the only Winner boy I ever saw. Besides that though, I could swear that I've seen him recently…or at least heard him spoken of."

"TV?" Heero suggested.

"No. Shh…let me think."

Heero just scowled at her and looked out the window with a pout.

A few seconds later, she sat up straight with a gasp. "OH! The Peacecraft Academy! Duh! There was a huge to-do because the school had only had girls and then some boys actually came."

Heero finally looked back at her curiously. "You went to the Peacecraft Academy?"

Audrey nodded and then shrugged. "Well…for a while. But I didn't like it much so I…left."

Heero blinked at her. He'd never really asked how she'd ended up on the Peacemillion, but the news that she had attended the Peacecraft Academy, which had been opened only shortly before the battle on Peacemillion, made him curious.

The waiter came over and brought them their meals.

Audrey started cutting into her pancake. She shoveled a piece of pancake into her mouth and Heero took a few bites as well. Audrey swallowed quickly and again began talking. There weren't many times that Heero was in the mood for talking about the war, but since he had brought it up, she figured that she would try to squeeze some info out of him. She would start slow though. "Now _I_ have a question."

Heero chewed slowly, dreading whatever she was about to ask him.

"So there were five gundam pilots right?"

Heero nodded. "That was your question?"

"No." Audrey rolled her eyes. "My question was: who was the fifth one? I've met two…"

"Trowa and Wufei." Heero supplied their names before shoveling some eggs into his mouth.

"And now I know that Winner was one of them. But, including you, that's only four. So who am I missing?"

Heero swallowed. He really didn't like going around telling people who the gundam pilots were. They had worked so hard to keep their identities secret for so long that, he sort of felt like he was betraying them somehow. Still, he knew that the war was over, and that he could trust Audrey. "Duo Maxwell." He said. "He's an American, although he lived in space all his life. I went to visit him for Christmas."

"Oh, _that's_ who you went to see? You must be good friends then."

Heero just shrugged.

Audrey took another bite of eggs and looked out of the window. Heero followed her gaze.

"You must be good friends if you went all the way to space to see him." She looked back at Heero, only to see that he wasn't listening to her. He was staring at the Preventer's base again. He'd seemed to have an odd fascination with it since they'd gotten there. "Heero?"

He turned back to her, apparently embarrassed that she had caught him zoning out.

She just stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

Heero sighed. Upon actually seeing the Preventers, he had decided that, at least for now, that would probably be the best place for him. He would have to tell her sooner or later. "Um…" He shot a glance back across the street. He figured he would just get it over with. "I want to join the Preventers." He said.

Audrey stared for a moment. She was not entirely sure what to make of the statement. Why would he bother telling her that? They had never really talked about their jobs before. Unless…was he leaving her? "What…do you mean?" He tried to mask the hurt on her face, but Heero saw it clearly.

"What's wrong? What do you have against the Preventers?"

"Nothing." She tried to calm herself down. He hadn't actually said he was leaving after all. "But…what about…what…will you…" She couldn't seem to make a sentence.

"It's not that much different from what we've been doing." Heero tried to butter it up. "Just we won't be moving as often. Or if we do, it will be where they tell us to go."

"We?" She perked up a bit. "You're not leaving me?"

Heero looked shocked for a second. "What would make you think that?"

"You made it sound so serious." She said. "Like it was something that _should_ worry me."

Heero looked sheepish for a second. "I didn't mean to. But…I was just letting you know. I don't know when I'll go talk to them. Probably when I can walk." He didn't direct the comment at her, but she sunk down a bit in her seat anyway. "And I don't really know if they're going to station me here or somewhere else…"

"Wouldn't you get to choose?"

Heero shrugged. "I don't really know. I've never really worked for a large scale organization like this. I don't know how much choice they give to the people who work for them for things like that."

"So do we just sit until then?" Audrey asked. "It doesn't pay for me to get a job if there's a chance we're leaving."

Heero nodded. "You could always get signed on too."

Audrey seemed to think about it for a second. She looked across the street to the large base. After a few seconds, she shrugged and turned back to her food.

Heero went back to his as well. He was relieved that he had finally gotten that out of the way, although he wasn't entirely sure why her opinion had been so important for him. The fact that she had been so hurt when she thought he was leaving her did not get past him. It was kind of touching actually.

* * *

The next week and a half passed slowly. The two mainly stayed in their room rerunning movies. (Heero had yet to stay awake through the beginning of Sound of Music, and Audrey was beginning to think he was falling asleep on purpose just to spite her.) 

Heero was sure to test his leg every so often. When they got bored however, they both went out to talk with Lucy, Cynthia, Anna, and Patrick. Heero tried to avoid those visits. Although he thought they were all nice people, they were somewhat nerve-wracking—especially when Audrey and Anna teamed up on him with all the prince "stuff." They had even made him a paper crown which he had had to wear all day to keep Anna from crying.

It was a Friday when Heero decided he had had enough of being cooped up inside the Inn. Audrey was apparently feeling antsy too, because when he had suggested that they go out for lunch or something, she was all to willing to comply. The two quickly changed out of their pajamas—which they had gotten in the habit of wearing all day since they never went anywhere.

When they stepped into the lobby, they were immediately met with an excited, bouncing Anna. She ran up and grabbed Heero's hand, trying to pull him toward the counter. He was walking much better now—only with a slightly discernable limp. He would be able to completely cover it up by Monday he figured.

Heero gently freed his hand from hers. "We're going out." He said.

Anna stared up at him, seemingly devastated by the news. She started to sniffle and her eyes filled up with tears. "You don't like me anymore!"

Heero gaped down at her as she burst into tears. "We'll be back later." He said.

Cynthia came over and picked Anna up, telling her to behave, because the "grown people" had to go do "grown people things."

Anna didn't stop crying, and Patrick seeing his sister sad, burst into sobs himself.

Heero and Audrey just stood in the lobby staring at the two sobbing children. They considered just leaving, but they figured that that would just make it worse for the two women.

Audrey pulled Heero a small distance away from the others. "They can come with us." She whispered to him. Heero just stared at her. He didn't know how much he liked the idea of being around them without their mother or Lucy there to make them behave.

Audrey motioned to the two children which the women were trying to console. "It would make them so happy."

Heero's face turned into a pout.

"Come on." She really didn't think that it would be troublesome bringing the two along. It might even be fun. She wasn't going to do that, though, without Heero's consent. She thought for a second, remembering how her mother always used to get her father to agree to things like that. It would be a long shot, but she could try it. Gently, she wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. She pulled back and whispered again. "Please."

Heero was stunned for a second, but then, he was ashamed to admit, he gave in. With a sigh, he nodded. "Fine."

Audrey smiled and skipped over to ask Cynthia if she would allow it. Cynthia seemed grateful for Audrey's suggestion, and agreed. Anna quickly returned to her perky self, and ran over to give them both a hug.

It took them a few minutes to move all of their extra bags from the back seat and then strap in the two car seats. Cynthia gave Audrey and Heero some money for her kids' food and, then they were all on their way.

A little over an hour later, the four were sitting at a booth in the corner of the same restaurant that they had eaten in before. It was a little before lunch, so the restaurant wasn't all that crowded and they had had their pick of where to sit. Their booth was fairly large, but Anna had insisted that they sit at one.

Heero and Audrey were sitting at each an end, with Anna in the middle. Patrick was sitting in a high chair at the end. They had already eaten lunch. They had gotten there too late for breakfast.

Heero was ready to leave, but Anna and Audrey insisted that they all have dessert.

"They have chocolate cake, cookies, apple pie, and ice cream. Which would you like." Audrey asked.

"Ice cream!"

Heero looked at the little girl oddly, but Audrey didn't seem at all surprised by the answer. She looked at the flavors on the menu. "Well they only have vanilla and chocolate right now. Probably because it's winter. Which do you want?"

"Chocolate!"

"Me too." Audrey decided and turned to call the waiter over.

"Wait." Heero interrupted before Audrey had time to raise her arm. "You're serious? It's almost freezing outside and you're getting ice cream?"

Audrey smiled at him and shrugged. "It's warm in here." She finally got the waiter's attention and he hurried over. "We would like two chocolate ice creams, a vanilla ice cream, and…" She motioned for Heero to state his preference.

He just stared, amazed that she was actually expecting him to eat ice cream at that time of year.

After a few seconds, Audrey got tired of waiting for him to answer. "Make it three chocolates, and a vanilla." She said and pulled a squirming Patrick out of his booster seat to let him walk around. Instead, he just crawled into her lap.

Heero continued to stare at her. He didn't know whether or not he should be waiting for her to tell him she was joking. There was really no telling with her.

A few seconds later, he was taken away from his thoughts by a light tug at his sleeve. He looked down to see Anna staring up at him and wiggling slightly.

"What's wrong now?" She hadn't sat still for two seconds together since they had left the inn, and every five minutes, she had needed something.

Anna looked around as if to be sure that no one was nearby, and motioned him to come down near her. Heero looked around just as she had, and cocked an eyebrow at her. He had no idea what a 4 year old could say that could be in any way important, but when she waved her hand a bit more frantically at him, he decided that he was about to find out.

Heero leaned down and Anna began to whisper loudly in his ear, being sure to cover her mouth with her hands so that no one could tap in on the secret message.

Audrey watched a bit curiously from the other side of the table, although from the way Anna was wiggling, she could make a guess at what she wanted. She could have probably heard what Anna was saying as loud as she was whispering, but Patrick was babbling in her ear.

Anna finished relaying her message and sat back to look at Heero pleadingly.

He just stared back at her and blinked. Neither moved for a few seconds, and finally, Heero looked at her oddly. "Well go." He said.

Anna looked terrified. "I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I can't go alone." She explained as if it were obvious.

Heero looked confused. Did he interpret wrongly? How could the task not only require, but have a purpose for, two people. "Huh?"

Anna whined and wiggled.

Heero stared at her for a second before looking at Audrey for assistance.

Audrey looked amused, but then decided that, for both Heero's and Anna's sakes, she would handle the issue. "Anna, do you need to go potty?"

Anna nodded.

"Come on." Audrey stood up, hoisting a giggling Patrick on her hip and slinging his diaper bag over her shoulder. "I'll take you." She bounced Patrick a bit and said in a playful voice to him. "And I'll clean you up while I'm at it."

Anna quickly slid out of the booth, and went to take Audrey's free hand. As they started to walk away, Audrey called back over her shoulder. "Don't eat all our ice cream, Heero."

Heero snorted lightly at the idea and at the fact that Audrey's comment had caused Anna to look back worriedly. He leaned back boredly at the booth and looked around. There hadn't been many people in the little restaurant when they'd gotten there, but it was just about lunch time, so it was starting to fill up quickly. He cast a glance out of the window to look at the Preventer's headquarters and then just slumped down and waited for everyone to come back.

A few minutes after Audrey and the kids had disappeared into the bathroom Heero heard a familiar voice.

"Well isn't this a surprise. Twice in two weeks—we must be lucky."

Heero sighed and turned towards the speaker. He hadn't really thought that in his Preventer watching, some of the Preventers would see him. He looked up to see Sally Po heading toward him. Wufei was just behind her. Without even asking for his permission, they both slid into the booth. He didn't really care. They had room. He just hoped they wouldn't bring up the whole gunshot incident. He had the weirdest feeling that Wufei thought it was funny—Sally too, to an extent.

"What are you two doing here?" Heero asked, although his tone wasn't overly curious. He knew that Sally wouldn't just let them sit there in silence, so he decided to keep the conversation off of himself.

"We're stationed here for the next few weeks, or until something important happens. If you mean what are we doing at this particular restaurant, it's lunch time and this place has better food than the cafeteria does." Sally explained.

While Sally and Heero talked, Wufei just sat and looked around for a waiter. Before he could find one that wasn't busy, however, he spotted Audrey with a baby on her hip. He remembered her from the hospital, and he knew that she was Heero's girlfriend. But a baby?

His eyes widened in shock.

A second later, Sally saw the same thing. She reacted the same as Wufei had.

Heero looked curiously at the two Preventers, and then turned to see what had taken their attention so quickly. He didn't see anything very interesting. The only thing he saw was Audrey standing by the bathroom door. She was looking back into the bathroom—probably waiting for Anna.

Heero looked back over to Sally and Wufei. Sally was staring at him in open shock, while Wufei was having quite a time masking his own.

"What?" Heero asked, clearly confused.

They both looked from Heero, to Audrey, and then back to Heero. Finally, Sally tried to broach the subject in a round about way. "Heero, why is there a baby seat at your table?"

Heero looked at her oddly. Didn't they see Patrick? He looked back at Audrey. Patrick was in plain sight.

Wufei didn't want to do things the roundabout way. Instead, before Heero had time to turn back to them, he asked. "Yuy, is that your kid?"

Heero's head whipped toward them. "Huh?"

They both just stared at them, waiting for an answer.

"…no…"

Sally and Wufei both looked relieved, although a little confused. Before they could ask any more questions, Anna bound up.

She stopped short when she saw Sally and Wufei sitting at the table. Not moving her eyes from the two intruders, she crept toward Heero and pulled on his sleeve again. Heero obediently leaned down to her so that she could whisper loudly in his ear.

"Heero, you're not supposed to talk to strangers."

Heero's face remained impassive, but he had to work to not laugh. He just scooted over so that the two girls could fit into the booth.

"Hi." Audrey addressed the newcomers after she had gotten Patrick settled. "It's nice to meet you again…under normal circumstances."

Sally smiled kindly at her, and Wufei had to mask a chuckle. He did however, send a mocking smirk toward Heero. Heero returned it with a glare.

Sally looked up at Audrey. "I'm sorry to ask, but I'm curious." She said, although she seemed a little embarrassed to be asking. "Whose kids are these?"

"Oh. They're for one of inn keepers for the inn we're staying at. Anna's taking quite a liking to Heero, so we decided to take them out today." Audrey said.

Sally nodded and looked around at the empty table. "So are you all done eating?"

Heero snorted. "We're waiting for ice cream." He said.

Sally and Wufei's expressions turned a bit perturbed. "You know it's winter right?" Wufei asked.

"It wasn't my idea." Heero grumbled.

Just then the waiter came back up with their ice cream. After distributing it to them, he turned to Sally and Wufei. "Can I get you something?" He asked.

They both ordered, while Anna dug into her ice cream. Audrey fiddled with Partick's bib and sleeves, to try to keep him from making too big of a mess, and then turned to her own ice cream. Heero just stared at the ice cream in front of him.

"Are you going to eat that, Heero?" Audrey asked after a few seconds of watching him just stare at it.

Heero looked up at her, his face expressionless. "It's cold."

"Of course it's cold." Audrey said, earning a few chuckles from Sally and Wufei. "It's _ice_ cream."

Heero scowled at her, but remained silent.

"Who doesn't like ice cream?" Audrey said after a few seconds in a what-is-the-world-coming-to fashion.

Heero pointed to the window. "There's snow outside."

"It's_ melting_ snow." She smiled at him. "Ice cream is good any time of year. Just _try_ it."

Heero narrowed her eyes at her, but took a bite anyway. It wasn't as terrible as he'd thought it would be. He sent her another glare for good measure.

"So where are you two staying?" Sally asked. "I've never heard of any inns in Sanction."

"There's a little town about twenty miles out of Sanction called Shady Grove." He idly took another bite of his ice cream.

"What are you doing there?"

Heero scowled a bit at the personal questions, but shrugged in response. "Nothing right now."

"If you ever feel like joining the Preventers, we could always use you." She looked at both Heero and Audrey when she said it.

Heero's demeanor seemed to shift somewhat. "What would we do?"

"What would you want to do?"

He just shrugged. "I'd have to know my options."

Audrey rolled her eyes. Heero had already decided to join the Preventers, but he was still going to make these people think that he had to be convinced.

"There are all kinds of things. I can't tell you unless you tell me what you're interested in. Right now we have a ton of things going on. We have field work, where we check out old bases to be sure that all of the weapons are deactivated and confiscated. We have patrols, where we check out sites of interest—things that seem suspicious, or that we've gotten tips on—to make sure that there isn't a rebel faction rising or something. Wufei and I do a mixture of those two things and I am in charge of the medical staff as well. We've got Trowa, Duo and Quatre on call. If anything terribly dangerous arises and we need expert help quick, we will call them, but they're only a last resort. Duo actually helps us out with things sometimes—finds us equipment and tells us where he's heard certain equipment is being shipped."

"Wait. Duo, Trowa, and Quatre are Preventers?"

"In a sense." Sally said, and then motioned to Wufei to explain it.

"They don't have any obligations to the agency." Wufei said crossing his arms. "We keep them informed of situations that may turn dangerous—in theory. They've just signed on a few weeks ago, so nothing has happened yet. Their agreements are all different, but in general, they've all agreed to help us with information if they run across it."

"It's just a 'tell us if you see it' thing." Sally clarified.

Wufie nodded. "If something does happen—something like what happened a month ago—we request their assistance. They aren't obligated to help, but we slip them some cash if they do."

Heero smirked. "Really."

The waiter came back with Sally and Wufei's food, and the receipt for the others' meal. He took away the empty ice cream bowls. Heero hadn't finished his, but he pushed it away anyway. Wufei took a bite of his burger and left Sally to continue the conversation.

Sally, ignored her food and leaned a little closer to Heero. "Would you be interested in something like that?"

Heero thought for a second and shrugged. He sent a glance at Audrey, but she was busy wiping ice cream off of Patrick. "Say, hypothetically, that I were to join the Preventers. Not on an on call agreement, but actually join. Would they assign me something, or would I decide what I did and where I went?"

"Well." Sally leaned back. She was excited that she was actually getting him to consider it, but she didn't want it to show. "In most cases, the Preventers would assign you something based on your ability, but I would imagine that _you_ would get your free pick of what you did."

Heero nodded.

Audrey was listening in on the conversation, and was glad that Heero would get his pick of what he did, although the statement implied, that if _she_ joined, she wouldn't.

Patrick wiggled grouchily to get away from her napkin. He yawned widely and slouched a little in his seat. Audrey figured that it was probably time for his nap. Heero, Sally, and Wufei were still deep in a conversation on politics and the Preventers, so Audrey just pulled him out of his chair and sat him on her lap. He snuggled into her chest, and almost instantly fell asleep.

Beside her, Anna was wiggling boredly. She had no idea what the others were talking about, and she wanted Heero's attention. He was either too involved in their talk to notice her, or he was ignoring her. Either way, Anna wasn't happy about it.

Audrey decided to just leave her alone. She would calm down in a little while, and she wasn't causing too much trouble at the moment.

Audrey shifted Patrick a bit so she could be more comfortable, and then looked back to the tree other (semi) adults.

To her surprise, Wufei was staring at her.

She stared back for a second, wondering what the problem was. Neither Sally nor Heero were paying them any mind. They were too wrapped up in talking about the specific jobs the Preventers offered, and how Heero could bend the rules a bit because he was a former gundam pilot.

"I've seen you before." Wufei declared after a second. Sally and Heero finally stopped their conversation and turned to look at Wufei. Wufei turned to Sally. "You said she looked familiar. I see it now."

Sally seemed to just remember. "Yeah." She looked at Audrey. "I could swear I've seen you somewhere. I just don't remember where."

Everyone stared at Audrey, and Anna took that moment to grab Heero's attention.

"I'm bored." Anna whined, tugging on Heero's jacket.

Heero had forgotten the little girl was there. He looked over at Audrey to see if she could help, only to see that she already had her hands full with Patrick, Sally, and Wufei. He just frowned at Anna and looked back at Audrey.

"Well…I was on Peacemillion." Audrey said.

The two looked shocked.

Anna squirmed and tugged on Heero's sleeve again. "I'm bored."

Heero ignored her.

"I was a nurse." Audrey clarified.

"That was it!" Sally said. Wufei seemed to vaguely remember as well.

"I'm booooorrrrrrreeeeeeeeed!" Anna's whine interrupted their conversation.

Sally smiled at Anna. "You have been sitting there a while." She said sympathetically.

Anna just pouted and hid behind Heero's arm. She didn't know these people, and she wasn't keen on the idea that they kept taking Heero's attention away from her.

"Don't let us keep you if you have to go." Sally said.

Heero scowled down at Anna and then looked to Audrey for her opinion of the matter. She just shrugged.

Heero turned back to Sally and Wufei. "I guess we should go." He growled, sending a glare to Anna.

Anna, not used to how scary his glares could be, flinched in terror and buried her face in Audrey's shirt. Audrey shifted Patrick and scooted out of the booth. Anna followed her closely as possible, sending nervous glances to Heero every few seconds. Heero grabbed the receipt and headed to the counter.

He felt a little guilty that he had scared her so badly, but she shouldn't be so annoying.

He had only taken two steps when Sally called out. "I see you're walking again. That's good."

Heero scowled at the sniggering couple before turning and heading to the counter.

A few minutes later, the two kids were strapped into the backseat, and the four of them were on the road again. Heero was glad to drive again. Besides the fact that he liked to be in control of the vehicle he was riding in, the roads were slippery, and Audrey wasn't the best driver to begin with.

Both of the kids were asleep in the back seat by the time they reached the city limits. Heero and Audrey heaved a sigh of relief at the very welcome sight.

"So?" Audrey said quietly after a few minutes of silence.

Heero glanced at her. "So what?"

"The Preventers. Do you have a bit more of an idea of what you would do?"

Heero shrugged. "I like the idea of only having to do field work in emergencies. I don't really want to be traveling all the time. Maybe every now and then, but sleeping on a space shuttle is not always comfortable. We'll see when we get there. Are you going to join too?"

She thought for a few seconds. "I don't know." She said quietly. She didn't know if she was qualified for anything, but she didn't want to admit it.

Heero wondered about her troubled expression, but he decided not to ask. Instead, he changed the subject. "They thought Patrick was ours." He said.

Audrey snapped her head toward him. "Huh?"

"Patrick." He said with a small smirk. It was a little funny now that he remembered it. "They saw you holding him, and they thought he was ours."

Audrey burst into a fit of laughter and looked back at Patrick. She pressed her hands over her mouth to quiet herself, but she couldn't seem to get over how funny the idea was.

Heero glanced over to see her trying to stifle her giggles. She locked eyes with him for a second and succumbed to another fit of giggles.

Heero pouted a bit and looked back at the road. What was she getting at? "It was funny, but not _that_ funny."

She only laughed harder.

* * *

Monday morning, Heero and Audrey arrived at the Preventers headquarters. Heero had accessed the files for the Preventers' base. He knew that Lady Une was the CEO of the entire Preventer organization, and, as luck would have it, she was stationed at the American branch. It was probably a little more than luck. There were only two functional branches—one on Earth, and one in space. The rest of the branches were still in construction.

Among the information that Heero had found in the Preventers, files, were the blueprints of the compound and the buildings. Therefore, he knew which building to go to and exactly where Une's office was.

Heero walked straight into the Affairs building of the Preventers headquarters. Audrey trailed behind him a bit nervously. She still didn't know whether or not she was really qualified to be a Preventer, but she figured that she would give it a shot.

Heero considered stopping at the reception desk, but just continued on walking. He knew where he was going.

"Wait." Audrey whispered to him. "Can we just…walk in like this?"

Heero looked back for a second but didn't lose stride. He shrugged nonchalantly.

Audrey stopped, and looked worriedly around. When she saw that Heero had not stopped, she scurried to keep up with him. "Won't we get in trouble?"

"The worst they can do is arrest us." Heero said.

Audrey froze, wide-eyed, in place. "Arrest us?"

Heero finally stopped and turned to look at her. He nodded simply and wrapped an arm around her shoulders more to keep her moving than for comfort, although there was a small gesture of comfort in the action. "But that's only if they catch us. So keep walking and act like you know where you're going."

Audrey nodded, her eyes darting around, to be sure that no one saw them.

They got to a door that was locked with a security device on it. Heero glanced around before quickly punching in a code.

"How did you know that?" Audrey asked as they walked down the long, hall.

Heero smirked. "I found it." He said innocently. He'd found the master security code when he had been checking out the layout of the building.

Audrey looked at him suspiciously. She could tell that he had probably done something illegal, but she decided that she would let it go for now. There was no sense arguing about something he had already done…at least not right now.

They reached an elevator, and Heero typed in the code again. They entered the elevator, and Heero pulled Audrey to stand against the wall.

"Heero we have an entire elevator, why do we need to stand here?"

Heero pointed upward. "Security camera. It can't see our faces from here."

The statement did nothing to quell her anxiety. "Heero this isn't legal. We can get into trouble. Why are we sneaking around like this?"

The elevator dinged to signal that they had reached the top floor. Heero just shrugged and led her out of the elevator and down the hall.

They reached the reception room for Une's office and just walked right through. The receptionist tried to tell them to wait, but Heero ignored her, tugging a nervous Audrey along behind him. They slipped into Une's office and locked the door behind them, leaving the receptionist to bang pointlessly on the soundproof door.

Une was busy pouring over some paperwork and talking to two people that seemed all too familiar to Heero. None of the people in the room noticed the two teens' arrival. Heero leaned against the wall boredly, waiting for the two visitors to finish whatever they were doing and leave. He didn't particularly feel like talking to them—especially one of them, but he figured that it was unavoidable.

Audrey huddled by his side looking nervous.

A few seconds later, Une's intercom buzzed announcing that security had arrived.

The three Preventers sat confusedly for a second. They had been so into their statistics and strategy that the statement hardly registered.

"I didn't call for security." Une said.

But those two people who came in didn't show ID.

Une looked at the two people sitting in front of her, but only received confused looks. She looked toward the door and finally noticed Heero and Audrey. She jumped out of her seat, her chair scraping against the floor and nearly tipping over. "Heero Yuy!"

Heero smirked at her. "You should tighten security." He suggested suavely. He had forgotten how fun it was to sneak around and surprise people.

The other two had jumped to their feet immediately after Une had. They all stared at Heero. None of them seemed to notice Audrey. That was fine by her. She preferred not to be noticed.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and security poured into the room, weapons drawn.

Heero simply stared at them and shifted slightly to stand in front of Audrey. He knew they wouldn't shoot unless ordered, but there was no telling if one of them would get overzealous.

Despite Heero's composure and his move to shield her, Audrey froze in terror. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and her face turned white. She had never had a gun pointed at her, and even if it was for only a second, she found it to be terrifying.

"Put your guns away." Une ordered quickly. "I did not call for security. He…" She finally noticed Audrey. "…they are guests." The guards quickly dropped their weapons and, looking around once more to be sure that everything was in order, slipped back out of the room. Once they were gone, Une turned to Heero and Audrey. She focused her attention on the terrified girl standing beside Heero. She was pale as a ghost, and still shaking slightly. "They're only tranquilizers. They won't hurt you."

The room lapsed into a silence for a moment. The three Preventers were curious and a bit worried about the reason for Heero's arrival.

Finally someone spoke. "Heero, and…Audrey, what a surprise." Noin was more than surprised to see her young semi-pupil with the ex-soldier. She seemed happy to see them, but the confusion of why they were there together was evident.

Milliardo, who was standing beside Noin, expressed neither surprise, nor excitement. He simply looked Heero up and down. He hadn't actually seen him since the end of the war. He had heard that he had stayed at his sister's estate for almost a week after the Mariemaia incident, but Heero had left the day after Milliardo had arrived. During the interval that they had been together in the same house, they had never actually talked, or even been in the same room. Milliardo was actually shocked at Heero's appearance. He had hardly even recognized him as being the same, short, skinny punk that he was dueled in Antarctica. His hair was the same mop it had always been, and he had the same piercing eyes. His body, however was that of a man—or near to it—not a boy. His face, had lost that childish shape, and Milliardo would almost think that he might have to shave. He just stood silently sizing up his old rival.

He then turned his attention to the young girl beside him.

Heero did the same, but for different reasons. He wondered how Audrey knew Noin. He decided that he would ask later. Now was not the time.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Une asked motioning Heero and Audrey to come closer. "I heard you were in the area, Heero…something about a gunshot."

Noin and Milliardo looked at him curiously—Noin a little alarmed.

"But Wufei and Sally were exasperatingly vague." Une continued. "You look well though. Come sit down." She motioned to the two chairs in front of her desk. Noin and Milliardo remained where they were.

Heero and Milliardo locked eyes. Neither one took their eyes off the other as Heero walked over. It was almost as if they expected the other to suddenly reveal himself to be an enemy.

Audrey trailed behind Heero. She wasn't as nervous now that she had seen Noin.

Heero and Audrey sat down, as did Une. "I heard you had jobs open."

Une smiled at him—both in relief that he wasn't there to deliver some devastating news, and in excitement that she would finally have the fifth gundam pilot on the force. She looked between the two of them, although her gaze stayed mostly on Heero, and turned to dig in her desk. "We'll have to do this one at a time. We'll start with you." She looked at Heero. "What are you interested in? Field work?"

Heero shook his head. "I would prefer to be stationed here. At least most of the time. I'll do field work from time to time, but I would rather be stationary."

"We can pull that off." Une said. There was no way that she was going to let him slip though her fingers. She was willing to bend almost any rule just to get him on the force. "We can put you on an 'on call' basis, which means that you will have a stationary post here. You will be informed of potentially troublesome events, and we will call you if we need help with anything. I hear you are pretty good at computer hacking, so we may call you for things like that as well. Until then, how would you feel about training new recruits? They learn basic hand to hand combat skills, but we also need them to be trained in piloting space shuttles, deactivating bombs, perhaps deciphering computer codes and hacking into systems. Things like that."

Heero thought about it for a second. He had never actually trained anyone, and his one attempt to teach someone how to shoot a gun had ended with disaster. Nonetheless, it sounded like it could be interesting. He could try it for a while. "Okay."

Une smiled and scribbled something onto the paper. She then slid it over to him and pointed to a line at the bottom of the page. "Read this and sign here." She grabbed a rather large packet of papers and placed them on side of the paper he was to read.

"What's that?" Heero asked, eying the stack of papers dubiously.

"Company policy." Une smiled a bit. "You have to read it—"  
"All of it?!"

"All of it." Une smiled at him. "And sign the blanks. You can take it home with you. Just bring it back on your first day…which can be tomorrow if you like."

Heero scowled at the papers but nodded. At least he'd have something to do for the rest of the day.

Une left Heero to his task and turned to Audrey. "And you…" Une looked her up and down. "Any qualifications?"

Audrey opened her mouth to speak, but Noin butted in. "Une, can I have her? I want her to be my assistant."

Une considered it for a second. "What about when you're on patrol?"

"She can be my contact. She can help out with the tech and computer groups. Or she could help out in the med bay." She looked at Audrey with a smile. She was excited to see that her young protégé had returned to her. She had always known that the girl had potential, and with the right guidance, could do great things. "How would you feel about that?"

Audrey just nodded. That was probably the best deal she could get. There was no way she would turn it down. She looked back to Une for her opinion on the matter.

Une looked at Audrey skeptically. "Have you been trained in computers, machinery, or medicine?"

"More medicine than the others." Audrey admitted.

"And your experience there?"

"I'm a registered nurse." She said pulling her license out of her wallet and sliding it across the desk for Une to examine. "I've done a few jobs with hospices and clinics. I was also a medic on the Peacemillion for a while during the war. As far as machinery, Noin showed me a little with mobile suits, and I know enough to fix a car engine. That's about it. Computers…" She shrugged.

Une seemed a little surprised to hear that she had been on Peacemillion, but the news seemed to convince her that Audrey did indeed have some qualifications. She smiled at her and pulled out the same papers she had given to Heero. "Alright then." She said indicating where Audrey was to sign. "As of now, Noin is your new boss. I guess she'll assign you your duties."

Audrey quickly read the paper and signed it. She wasn't entirely sure what she was getting herself into, but Heero seemed composed enough. His calmness helped her to calm down a bit.

"Well then." Une stood up and shook both Heero's and Audrey's hands in turn. "Welcome to the Preventers."

* * *

Yay! Another chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it.

As always thank you to all of my reviewers! Reviews are always appreciated.


	20. Two Worlds in One

Chapter 20- Two Worlds in One

Heero nearly went cross-eyed staring at the huge pile of papers in front of him—papers that he was expected to read. Every. Single. One. He doubted that anyone actually read them. He probably wouldn't either.

Noin and Milliardo had taken Audrey out of the room to show her around, leaving Heero stuck with Lady Une. It was a rather awkward situation, and it was a little difficult to calmly sit in a room with only her.

Even though they were now allies, they had a rather rough history between them. Not that they ever really encountered each other much during the war. She had still captured him once, and threatened him to the point of self destruction another time.

_That was then._ He reminded himself. _She's a different person now…literally._ He had heard a few rumors that Une had multiple personalities, and now he believed it. The calm, controlled woman in front of him now was nothing like the short-fused woman who had sent so many innocent men to their deaths during the war.

She had a sense of power though, and diplomacy. With her history in political and war-related affairs, she was actually a pretty good candidate to head up an organization such as the Preventers.

Heero shot a glance up at the woman, to see that she had grabbed the phone and was dialing a number.

"Hale, can I see you in my office." Une said into the phone. She paused for a second. "Now if you will."

Heero stared at her, wondering when she was going to "show him around." He didn't need a tour. He already knew where everything was. She had insisted that he wait though.

"That was your partner." Une said.

Heero cocked an eyebrow. "Partner? What partner?"

"His name is Marcus Hale. He was a troop instructor in the Alliance Military. He is in charge of the more advanced levels of recruit training. It's really hard to find qualified drill sergeants nowadays. Since the war's end, not many people want jobs that remind them of the war, and most of the soldiers we do get prefer to do fieldwork. Hale's got a wife and daughter, so he likes to stay on earth.

"Before he gets here, I'll tell you a little bit about the recruit training courses here. First off, all recruits who enter the Preventers are sent through basic training. Afterwards, they are sent to their assignments, or if they are going into field work, are sent to specialty training. Basic training is a 15 week course that teaches the basics of armed and unarmed combat, first aid, diplomacy, history, strategy, and how to behave in uniform. Advanced training, or specialty training, is reserved for our field officers—both those that check out hotspots, and those on cleanup. Specialty training is ten weeks long. Usually anywhere between fifteen and twenty five recruits enter. Only five or ten actually graduate. The course teaches more advanced levels of armed and unarmed combat, emergency survival tactics in wilderness and space, piloting space shuttles, planes, and submarines, computer hacking, and the proper way to arrest people."

Heero cocked an eyebrow at the last one.

"You may learn something new yourself." Une smirked. "Hale is in charge of specialty training, but it's really a job for more than one man. You pretty much get free reign as far as how you train the men. As long as they learn everything. Hale is pretty…creative…but you'll see that for yourself."

Two knocks on the door signaled the Hale's arrival. He didn't wait for permission to enter, but instead just walked in.

Une stood to greet the new arrival, and Heero followed the motion. He looked the man up and down. He was definitely a soldier. Heero could tell by the way he stood. Hale was probably about four inches taller than Heero. He was slim, but, appeared well built. His head was clean shaved, and his eyes, almost black, had the calculating look of an experienced soldier. He regarded Heero with the same look Heero gave him.

Une cleared her throat, and, after a few seconds, the two men broke eye contact with each other and looked at her.

"Hale, this is former gundam pilot Heero Yuy. He will be the new advanced troop instructor and…your partner." Heero nodded in greeting, and Hale returned the nod. "Heero, this is Sergeant Major Hale, former troop instructor for the Alliance military special forces." Hale returned the nod.

"Now that the introductions are over, you can take Heero back to show him the ropes. Heero, be sure you get an ID before you leave."

Hale nodded again and without a single word, turned and headed out of the room.

Heero cocked an eyebrow at Une before striding out of the room after him.

Hale was waiting for him outside of the door. "So do I call you Yuy?" It was the first word he had said to him, and Heero was almost surprised at how deep his voice was. Hale looked to be in his late twenties, but his voice betrayed that he was more than a few years older than that.

Heero half shrugged. "If you want."

Hale didn't respond. He started walking down the hall and Heero fell in step beside him. Despite the fact that Hale was taller than him, Heero easily kept up. They both remained silent. Neither really seemed the type for idle chatter. They stepped into the elevator. Heero leaned against the wall, but Hale stood stiff, his hands behind his back.

They exited the elevator without a word, and headed out toward the lobby. After a few minutes of silence, Hale spoke. "You'll have to shave your head."

Heero stopped in his tracks a hand instinctively reaching up to comb through his hair. He looked at the top of Hale's darker head to see that it was shaved so closely that it shined.

"It was a joke, son." Hale's face remained deadly serious, but Heero could see a little mischief in his eyes. "You'll have to have a sense of humor for this job. Picking on the recruits is a good way to entertain yourself. Otherwise, it makes for a hell of a long day."

Heero just stared, and Hale turned to walk out of the building.

"Do you know where everything is?" Hale asked as he got into a Preventer jeep that he had left parked conveniently in front of the Affairs building.

Heero nodded. "I…found the blueprints."

Hale immediately caught on to what he was saying. "You hack computers, then." He stated, seemingly pleased. "Good. I'll let you handle the computer training. I'm more of an explosives man myself. Did Commander Une give you any specific assignments?"

"Hacking, defusing bombs, piloting shuttles, combat, both with and without arms from what I gather."

"You can do all that."

Heero nodded.

Hale seemed impressed, but not surprised. "I would expect nothing less of a former gundam pilot."

* * *

"I was waiting for her to tell you to house break me." Audrey grumbled as Noin guided her out of Une's office and down the hall.

Noin chuckled a bit. "She's like that. It's just because you're so young. Not many people your age have the skill or commitment to get good jobs here. In most cases, she would have sent you to basic training. You're quite lucky to have gotten out of that. By all means you should be in recruit training. But we needed a contact so badly, that you get to skip it. We can always show you a few things later, I guess."

Audrey scowled at the idea, and decided to change the subject. Hopefully everyone would forget about her lack of physical and combat related aptitude over time. "So do you work here all the time?" Audrey asked.

"No." Noin said. "Far from it. Zechs and I—"

"Who?"

Noin pointed to the towering blonde behind them. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you. Audrey Harper, this is Milliardo Peacecraft—codename "Wind" for future reference—"Zechs" to me and a few other people. Zechs, this is Audrey."

Audrey smiled politely—if a bit embarrassedly—at Milliardo and then cocked an eyebrow at Noin as something finally registered. "Code name?"

Noin smiled at her. "We get codenames when you do fieldwork or when you contact a person who is doing field work. It's just a safety precaution, really. In case our lines get tapped, we don't want them to know our names. Mine's "Fire." Une will issue you yours some time later today…or most likely tomorrow. I'll show you how to be sure that the line is safe later. Back to your earlier question, Zechs just started here about a month ago, but our main area of work will be in space. We will contact here each day with a status report when we're gone. That's where you come in. The report will contain anything from the status of relations between certain colonies, to the amount of uranium being shipped into a colony. Each item will be flagged with a different color and so forth, depending on how much of a priority we estimate it to be. Occasionally we will find a scrap of metal or will tap a phone line that looks suspicious. We will immediately send you the call or a picture of whatever we found. You will bring whatever we send you to the appropriate lab, and go over it with them. Whatever the results—even if it turns out to be nothing—you are to send them, flagged, back to us and to Une. Do you follow?"

Audrey nodded.

"Good." Noin smiled at her and then sent a glance to Milliardo. "We also, attend meetings between dignitaries in space. We don't participate much, since we are not actually a political entity, but we do try to give suggestions for peaceful solutions to problems. We will bring a camera to these meetings and film them usually. The camera will be directly linked to your computer so that you can watch and listen to the meeting as it's occurring and record it for further review. We will have a laptop as well. If we have any questions about any past reports, any politicians, the particular status of something on a colony, or anything at all, we will send it to you, and you will find whatever file we need and send it back to us ASAP. Some you will be able to get in less than five minutes. Some may take a day or two. That's okay, because most meetings last for two weeks at least."

Audrey cocked an eyebrow. She remembered her father being away for days at a time to attend meetings, but she never remembered him being gone for more than two weeks.

"Besides that, you will do small things for us…like get hotel reservations. We get discounts for being a government agency. You may have to find the location of nearby fueling stations, or send us a map of a colony. That's about all I can think of for now. There are probably a few other odds and ends, but we won't have to worry about that for now. Unless…" She turned to Milliardo. "Can you think of anything?"

He shook his head nonchalantly.

Noin looked back at Audrey. "Any questions?"

"You still never told me why you are on earth instead of in space."

"Oh." Noin chuckled and looked around the hall before finding an empty office and pulling Audrey in. "Well you followed the news about the Barton faction trying to take over, right?"

Audrey shrugged. "A little."

"The nominal leader of the faction was named Mariemaia Barton, but she claimed to be Treize Kushrenada's daughter. Une used to be Treize's most trusted…" She moved her hands as if trying to pull the right word out of the air and then looked to Milliardo when she couldn't find it.

"They were lovers." Milliardo said.

Audrey's eyes widened, and Noin scowled at his coarse wording. Milliardo gave Noin an innocent shrug, and Noin continued.

"Because Mariemaia is claiming kinship to Treize, and because she had no other relatives that we can find, Une is going to adopt her." Audrey nodded, although she wasn't sure what that had to do with the fact that Noin wasn't in space. "Mariemaia was shot during that incident. It was a near fatal wound, but she survived. She's in the hospital right now, and Une has to direct a lot of attention to taking care of her and adopting her. Therefore, Sally Po and I are splitting shift with her. We'll be on earth for a few more weeks, or at least until Mariemaia is a bit more stable."

Audrey thought about how sad that was, but then another thought crossed her mind. "Isn't the Earth Sphere like…I don't know…in havoc because of the...thing?" She hadn't noticed anything odd, but she hardly ever paid any attention to politics.

"Sort of." Noin said. "Everyone's really uptight and worried, but they all pretty much have the same agenda. They all want peace, but they all have different opinions to just how much power the Earth Sphere should have over the affairs of individual nations. The only problem now is reconciling everyone's ideas and making everyone get along." Noin sighed.

"It's a rather cliché problem, and one that's not likely to be solved any time soon." Milliardo drawled from behind them. "We have to continue working toward a solution though, if only for appearance's sake."

Audrey stared at the tall man for a second before deciding that he probably knew what he was talking about. She just nodded and turned around. She decided to change the subject. "So what about Sally and Wufei? Are they always on earth?"

Noin nodded. "They're not really involved with politics as much as we are. They deal mainly with investigating sites that appear suspicious, and clearing out old military bases. Sally is also in charge of the medical staff, but she won't be around much now to do it anymore. They'll probably leave in a week or so. Mariemaia will be well enough to go home soon.

They reached a set of modern glass double doors and Noin pulled it open. The room they entered was round, but there were two desks set diagonally on either side of the doorway. There were four other doors set at intervals on the rounded back wall.

The two secretaries looked curiously at the newcomers, but upon recognizing Noin and Milliardo, didn't say anything.

Noin turned briefly to the two women. She didn't actually know them well, but she figured that it would be a nice gesture to introduce them to Audrey. "This is Audrey Harper. She will be working here now."

Audrey smiled politely, and the two women returned similar—although slightly confused—smiles.

When Noin was sure that none of them were going to move, she continued with her tour. She headed to the second door to the left. "You may know already, this building is the Affairs Building. The first floor is just the lobby, incoming and outgoing mail, and security offices. The floor above that is this building's techie group. If you ever have a computer malfunction on anything, just go talk to them. The next few floors are mainly cubicles. They handle mainly the paperwork that goes on in the building. Each floor has a different function, but we won't go into that now. The three floors above that are personal offices. The one directly below this one, has different size conference rooms. The top floor, as you know, is Une's office, and a few other personal offices." She opened second door from the right. "This is yours."

Audrey stared. "Seriously?"

"Yep." Noin walked further into the room. It was very nice. The entire back wall was a window. There was a large semicircular desk in the middle. "Because Zechs and I handle some of the most important cases, you need to be close to Une. This is close."

"Very close." Audrey said.

Noin smiled. "Sally and Wufei's contact is right next-door." She turned and headed out of the office. "He used to be mine and Sally's, when we were partners, but now that we've switched we needed another one. That's you." She knocked on the door to the right of Audrey's new office and then pushed the door open. "Mickel!" The man glanced away from his computer upon hearing Noin's voice.

"Noin!" He stood and came around the desk. He was a rather handsome man with light brown hair and dark eyes. He was of average build and only an inch or two shorter than Milliardo. "What are you doing here? I don't work for you anymore." He said in a joking way. He had a sort of accent that Audrey couldn't place, but Audrey guessed he was Russian. He appeared to be in his mid twenties, and probably single from the way he was staring at her.

"Mickel," Noin turned and pointed to Audrey. "This is mine and Zechs' new contact, Audrey Harper. Audrey this is Mickel Rumanov."

Audrey extended her hand, but instead of shaking it, he gently kissed it. Audrey quickly shot a shocked glance to Noin. She only smiled back.

Mickel straightened and flashed Audrey a dazzling smile. "I look forward to working with you." He said.

Audrey, a little unsure of what to do, smiled politely. "Me too."

Milliardo cleared his throat loudly breaking up the rather awkward moment.

Noin looked apologetically at Mickel, and started pulling Audrey toward the door. "We have to finish giving her a tour. We'll see you later."

* * *

Hale stared stonily at the few men standing at attention before him.

They had gotten Heero's Preventers badge and then went out to meet the recruits. "This is your new trainer, Sergeant Major Yuy." Heero didn't know how much he liked having a rank. He supposed he would just deal with it. "We're going to go for a jog and warm up a bit." He motioned with his head for Heero to follow him and then took off. Heero jogged alongside him, his leg jolting with pain each time he put pressure on it. He didn't say anything though—didn't even so much as grimace. Hale appeared to be heading the road, but just before he reached it, he detoured and headed straight toward the jeep.

Heero followed wondering what was going on. A glance at the cadets told him that they were not as confused as he was.

Hale slid into the jeep and motioned for Heero to get into the passenger's side. He did and Hale started off down the road.

The men jogged crossly behind them as Hale drove around the compound. He made sure to look as comfortable as possible to the men who were running in the cold weather.

Heero stared at the rearview mirror for a little while. The recruits were keeping up with the jeep, but Hale wasn't driving very fast. Hale seemed to sense Heero's thought, for after a second, he sped up a bit. With a grin, he turned to Heero. "They love this, but sometimes they need a little encouragement."

Heero just blinked at him. The man was obviously being sarcastic, but his face was completely serious. Despite himself, Heero had to work not to laugh.

After a few minutes, the recruits looked to be getting tired. Hale rolled down the window and hollered back to them. "Pick it up cadets. I'm not even sweating!"

Heero smirked a bit. Sure it was a tad cruel, but his training had been much harsher.

They rode around the complex one more time, before they pulled up in front of the gym.

Hale got out of the jeep and headed over to the gym. Heero and the recruits again followed. There was a reception desk right on the entrance and two rather burly men chatting behind it. They turned upon the small troop's arrival and then nodded to Hale. Hale looked like he was about to just walk on by, but as if on second thought, paused and pointed a thumb at Heero. "This is Yuy. My new partner." He continued walking.

Heero quickly nodded in greeting before following Hale.

The room they were in had nothing but weights, of all different shapes and sizes, with different equipment and such. Hale led them around the weights and to a stairwell.

The second floor, Heero saw briefly through the glass door, had treadmills, stairclimbers, and exercise bikes.

They headed up to the third, and highest, floor. A third of the huge room, the part in the middle, was covered in a huge blue mat. It was apparently intended for some sort of wrestling. Another third was wood flooring. On the wall behind the wood floor was a rack of various weapons. There were two rings which appeared to be boxing rings covering part of the last third.

There were two men in one of the rings. The blue mat was clear. A lone figure was in the back of the wood area doing katas. Heero spotted him instantly and had to work to suppress a groan. "Chang."

Hale noticed too and cast a sidelong glance to Heero. "Isn't that the other gundam pilot?"

The recruits looked at each other confusedly at the statement. Others even whispered quietly to one another. Heero gathered that they had caught Hale's use of the word "other."

Wufei had been concentrating on his kata, but caught the group of people staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He straightened and turned to them, getting ready to tell them to buzz off. Then he spotted Heero.

Wufei and Heero locked eyes. Neither moved for a few minutes.

Finally, Hale turned to Heero. "Why don't you show them what two gundam pilots can do? I'm pretty curious myself."

The recruits' suspicions had been confirmed, and they started whispering excitedly to one another. Many stared at Heero in awe.

Heero shifted his weight to his good leg and then flexed the bad one a bit. It was still a bit painful, but he figured that a little spar couldn't hurt it too much.

Wufei, tired of watching people stare at him, yelled across the room. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Heero looked at Hale. Hale just shrugged. Heero turned back to Wufei. "HOW ABOUT A SPAR?"

Wufei looked Heero up and down before snorting. "I DON'T FIGHT THE WEAK AND HANDICAPPED!"

That was not the response that anyone was expecting, although afterwards, Heero reasoned that he _should_ have expected it. He thought for a second, both deliberating on whether or not he really wanted to spar with Wufei. He had already told Hale he would, and he wasn't going to back down from that. Now he just needed to think of a way to get Wufei over his honor policy. After a few seconds, Heero smirked confidently and crossed his arms. "YOU'RE JUST AFRAID THAT I'LL BEAT YOU!"

He could feel Wufei's eyes narrowing, even though he couldn't see them. He could almost hear him growl. "THAT'S A LIE, AND YOU KNOW IT!" He stormed over and put his face just inches away from Heero's. "You'll not con me into a fight, Yuy. I said I don't fight the weak. That includes you."

Heero frowned. "Thanks for your concern, but you shouldn't worry about me. I want a spar _Chang_—not a fight to the death."

Wufei took a step back, calming himself. He looked Heero up and down and then looked at the people gathered curiously around him. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you a recruit?"

Heero shifted his weight a bit, apparently deliberating on what to say. "No. I'm a…recruit…trainer."

Wufei snorted. "You?"

Heero shrugged, growing a bit irritated. "Are we going to spar or not?"

Wufei looked from Heero, to Hale, to the recruits behind them, and then back to Heero. He recognized Hale a bit, but he had never seen any of the recruits before. He fixed Heero with an even glare. "You can hardly walk."

Heero scowled. "I walk fine."

Without moving his eyes from Heero's, Wufei took his staff and whacked Heero in the leg.

Heero didn't see it coming until it was too late, but he was quick enough to grab the staff before Wufei could bring it back to his side. He tried to snatch it away, but Wufei grabbed the other end and pulled back. The two continued to struggle to get the staff, but neither gave way.

"Did that hurt?" Wufei teased.

Heero scowled. "It would have hurt anyone."

They both continued their tug-of-war.

After a few seconds, Hale cleared his throat.

The two boys stopped fighting, and appeared to suddenly remember where they were. Heero let go of the staff and they both turned to Hale.

"Is there something I should know?"

Heero just stared.

Wufei smirked. "His girlfriend shot him in the leg two weeks ago."

All stares focused on Heero. "I hope you dumped her." Hale said.

Heero didn't respond.

"You…didn't dump her…"

"It was an accident."

"Never believe that." Hale said, giving Heero a stern look.

Heero rolled his eyes. "It was." He repeated.

"But you still stayed with her?" Hale couldn't seem to comprehend the idea.

"I'm a forgiving guy." Heero grumbled while glaring at Wufei.

No one noticed the momentary look that the two shared.

Wufei felt suddenly a little pathetic—both at the memory of what he had done to Heero—and the Earth Sphere—a month before, and at the knowledge that he had taken advantage of Heero's forgiveness. "Fine." Wufei grumbled. Everyone turned to look at Wufei. "I'll spar with you. If only to shut you up."

He walked off to hang the staff back on the wall. Heero started to head over to the blue mat, but Hale spoke up.

"Are you really going to do that with a broken leg?"

"It's not broken." Heero said offhandedly. "But yeah." He slipped his shoes and jacket off and stepped onto the blue mat.

Wufei came back into the middle of the mat and stood in front of Heero. They both bowed to each other and the fight began.

* * *

Audrey and Noin were sitting in the cafeteria. Milliardo had finally gotten bored of tailing around behind the two women and had disappeared somewhere.

Both girls were happy for that. They were both ready to gossip.

Audrey took a sip of coffee and fixed Noin with a mischievous look. "So…what's going on with tall, blonde, and handsome?"

Noin returned the look. "I could ask the same of you, except Heero's not blonde."

Audrey blushed a bit. "I asked you first."

Noin just shrugged and looked around the cafeteria. There were only a few people there, and none of them were nearby. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I see the way you two look at each other. You can't tell me that there isn't more to it than that." Audrey leaned closer. "Come on. Spill."

"We went through military academy together. He's Relena's brother you know."

"Really." Audrey was visibly surprised.

Noin nodded. "He visits her every now and then. They really hardly know each other though. They were separated after their parents died and only recently met up again."

Audrey seemed intrigued, but decided to get back on topic. "So…how do you fit into all of this? Is that why you came to Relena's school? Because of him?"

Noin narrowed her eyes. "Somewhat. I did always feel a need to protect and guide her. Part of it was because she was the only family Zechs has and another part was because she was an important figure in the struggle for peace."

Audrey just nodded. She had never known why everyone thought Relena was so important to everything, but she figured that now was not the time to ask. That would just distract her from her real goal. "So Milliardo Peacecraft. You two have dated long?"

"I don't know if you could call it dating."  
"But there is a relationship." She raised her eyebrows.

"Perhaps."

"When's the wedding."

"Audrey!"

"I'm kidding…maybe." A sly smile formed on her face. The little she saw of the two together, she realized that they really did make a good pair. She may have to play a little matchmaking.

Noin cleared her throat, trying to work the blush from her face. "Enough about me." She put her elbows on the table and placed her chin on her laced fingers. "What on earth are you doing with Heero Yuy? And don't try to get out of it because I've seen how you two look at each other, too."

Audrey looked at her oddly for a second. She wasn't aware that she looked at him in any special way, although now that she thought about it, he tended to be a bit more open and gentle with her than with other people. She just shrugged. "Um I guess…we've lived together for about a year."

Noin looked floored.

Audrey supposed the news would be a little surprising to anyone who had known either of them during the war…especially to someone who knew both of them. After a few minutes, when Noin hadn't moved, Audrey cleared her throat.

Noin jumped a little and blinked at Audrey. "You're not kidding? A year? Wha…?" She waved her hands about, a million questions waiting on the tip of her tongue but not able to come out.

Audrey just looked at her, feigning ignorance. "Hm? What?"

* * *

Heero hadn't had that good of a work out in…since he had fought Wufei the last time. Heero knew that he was at a disadvantage. Wufei specialized in hand to hand combat and sword fighting. Plus, Heero couldn't do much in the way of kicking.

He was holding his own, though.

Wufei wasn't going to go easy on him because of his leg. That was fine with Heero. He had asked for a fight, and Wufei was going to give him one. He was probably trying to think of a way to show Heero how stupid he was for trying to fight with a handicap.

Heero leaned heavily on his good leg while trying to block Wufei's punches. He knew that he wouldn't be quick enough to dodge, and would probably only hurt himself, so he decided that he would have to hold his ground.

Wufei suddenly jumped and sent a kick right towards Heero's face. Heero didn't have enough time to try to get out the way, and the kick had too much momentum for him to block it. With a split second decision, Heero grabbed Wufei's foot and rolled backwards onto the floor. Wufei was sent flying over his head. Heero reversed the direction of his roll and sprang off the ground. With no visible display of how much the last move had hurt his leg, he turned toward Wufei, ready for his next attack.

Wufei quickly did a hand spring and landed gracefully on his feet. He stared at Heero. "That was a nice move. It's too bad you're stuck on the defensive, or else this fight might have been interesting."

Heero smirked at him. "Who says I'm stuck on the defensive?" Quite senselessly, he reflected on later, he charged at Wufei.

Wufei crouched down, ready to meet him.

Heero led with a right hook, but then feinted left. He tried a left uppercut, but Wufei spun out of the way. He smoothly added a kick to the spin, aiming right for Heero's right ear. Heero ducked down and, bracing his hands on the mat, swiped Wufei's leg out from under him. Wufei fell backwards, and continued to roll until his feet met the floor. The instant that happened, he flew at Heero.

Heero blocked his first few punches, but was unable to block Wufei's knee from driving into his stomach. Wufei took advantage of Heero's momentary distraction to send an elbow into his back…or at least to try to. Heero had collapsed to one knee, but he anticipated Wufei's next attack. He spun on the knee and grabbed Wufei's arm. He hoisted him off the ground and, again, flipped him over his head.

Wufei landed on his feet. He stumbled a bit, but didn't fall.

He and Heero locked eyes. Both were breathing heavily, and standing in anticipation of another attack. Neither was willing to surrender.

Suddenly they heard clapping. They snuck glances out of the corner of their eyes to see who was clapping, but neither wanted to remove their eyes from their opponent for too long. Finally Wufei straightened. Heero did as well.

Neither were going to call the fight a draw, but both silently agreed that it was over.

They looked around the room to see that a large crowd had gathered to watch their little spar. Everyone in the entire gym, and some from outside, had come to watch the fight. Apparently, someone had run downstairs to announce the event. They were all standing on the edges of the mat, staring at the two combatants in awe.

Heero and Wufei just blinked at them, and then looked at each other. They shrugged and headed back to what they were doing before, like nothing had happened.

* * *

After the troops went back to their barracks for the day, Heero went to find Audrey and Noin. A quick phone call directed him to the Preventers cafeteria. There he found Audrey and Noin leaning across a table whispering to each other. When he approached, they both went quiet and stared at him.

Heero looked between the two, wondering what was going on.

Neither said anything as an explanation. His only response was Noin suddenly exclaiming something about the time and running away. "I hope you both like it here!" She hollered as she left the cafeteria.

Heero looked curiously back to Audrey, only to find her staring curiously back at him.

"What?"

She looked him up and down and then glanced out the window. Then, she turned back to him with a puzzled look on her face. "Is it raining?"

Heero looked out of the window as well. He had just come from outside, and it hadn't even been cloudy. "No…?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Then why are you wet?" She stood, and, grabbing her empty coffee cup, went to bring it to the dish room.

Heero followed her and then they both headed outside. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. It was soaked with sweat, as was a good portion of his shirt. He had had to teach the recruits some of the moves he'd used on Wufei, and that required tossing a few recruits around the room. He was ready for a shower. "It's sweat."

Audrey flinched away. "Eww."

Heero frowned at her and then smirked as he suddenly got an idea. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and held her tightly so she couldn't get away. She seemed to have guessed what he was doing because she started trying to free herself. If anything, Heero just held her tighter. His smirk growing to a devilish grin, he shook his head. As anticipated, sweat sprayed all over Audrey.

She gagged in disgust, and started beating on his chest. "That's so gross!"

Heero looked down at her, suddenly remembering something that he had been wondering about since that morning. "How do you know Noin?"

Audrey seemed a little surprised at the question. "Umm…she took me away from the Peacecraft Academy and brought me to space."

Heero was visibly surprised. He had lived with this girl for over a year, and he'd never known something so important? "So Lucrezia Noin just…took you to space, while there was a war going on _in_ space? It doesn't seem like something she'd do."

Heero had loosened his grip on Audrey's shoulders although he didn't remove his arm. Audrey was so surprised that he was asking all those questions, that she didn't even think to push it off. He had never really been interested in knowing about her past. It just wasn't something they ever talked about. "You know her well?" She felt stupid for asking.

"I'd met her a few times during the war."

Audrey frowned a bit. "I feel bad now." She mumbled. "I never really bothered to check up on her after the war. And she was so nice today." Although Audrey was a naturally friendly person, she had never been in one place long enough to make many real friends. Noin had been the best friend she had ever had—besides Jeanne—during the last few months of the war.

Heero nodded. "Too nice to be a soldier really. She hated war, and she hated fighting as far as I could gather." He said more to himself than to her. "Which brings me back to my question: why did she bring you into a battle?"

Audrey smiled a bit. "Because I'd asked her to." Heero still looked doubtful, so she elaborated. "And because she knew that I would never be fighting. She hadn't trained me for that, just for—"

Heero interrupted her. "She trained you? _Noin_ trained you? To do what? You were a nurse."

"Well I'll just start at the beginning and do a really summarized version. If you want to know why Noin agreed to let me do anything though, you'll have to ask her." Audrey took a deep breath and thought for a second. "Well one way or another, I found out that Noin was smuggling mobile suits into the Sanc Kingdom, and I blackmailed her. You know that the Sanc Kingdom was a pacifist nation and that Relena would have been mad to find mobile suits there. I snuck into the hangar one night, and Noin couldn't do anything to me without Relena finding out about everything. I probably did a little begging—which I am not above doing from time to time—and she promised to show me how to repair mobile suits."

Heero just blinked at her, wide eyed.

"But then the battle moved into space." Audrey continued. "Noin was going too, so I begged her to let me go along. She gave in, and you know the rest."

Heero blinked at her. It surprised him that they had such a huge connection before they had actually met each other, and he didn't even know about it. He looked around at the Preventers base before resting his eyes back on Audrey. "So you did all of that, but you were scared to sneak into the Preventers today."

Audrey sighed as if she were an old woman. "I've just become so much more mature I guess."

Heero snorted a laugh.

"I was kinda serious." She pouted. "I don't know what I was thinking then."

He laughed again. He let his arm finally drop from his shoulders as they made it to the jeep. They both climbed in and, casting one glance at the entirety of the Preventers headquarters, sped away.

* * *

As always and with just as much enthusiasm as always, I want to say a big "thank you" to all of my reviewers.

Reviews are always appreciated.


	21. Be My Valentine

Chapter 21- Be My Valentine

Heero awoke in his own bed in the inn. He and Audrey had successfully completed their first week as Preventers, and were both looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Or at least Heero had been until he suddenly decided that they needed to move out of the inn. He looked around the room and stretched out lazily before sitting up. Upon seeing the small room yet another morning, he had realized that he was quite tired of it. It was small, and there was no fridge or kitchen, and it just wasn't…his.

It was high time for him to get his own place…or _their_ own place.

It had only recently dawned on him that, if all went as planned, he would be living in—or at least near—Sanction for a very long time. Longer than he had lived anywhere. It was almost incomprehensible to him to have a home—one that would always be there. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that that was what he wanted. A home. Not just somewhere he lived for a while, but a place that he could put his own mark on, and which would be all his own in return.

He crisscrossed his legs and laid his arms across his knees. It was a reasonable idea as well. They were just throwing their money away by staying in an inn—not that he didn't have a good bit stashed away, and not that he couldn't just swipe some from someone's account if they were ever broke. The apartments in Sanction, from what he'd heard, were outrageously priced. Eventually, they would need a permanent residence, and what better time to get one than the present.

A house would be better. One with a yard…and a refrigerator. His stomach growled at the thought. He looked over to lump that he assumed to be Audrey. She was, of course, still sleeping. She always slept to outlandish times when he let her. It was almost 8 o'clock for Pete's sake.

It would be good to have some of her cooking again. It wasn't the best in the world, but it was undoubtedly good.

With that thought in mind, he hopped off the bed and went to get dressed.

He would do a little research and then wake Audrey up.

* * *

An hour later, Heero had a half-sleeping Audrey in the passenger seat of the jeep. 

"Where are we going?" Audrey yawned as she slumped against the window.

"I told you already." Heero glanced over. "We're going to look at a house."

"You're not kidding?" Audrey's eyes drooped.

"Of course not."

"What's so special about it that you had to wake me up so early?" She slouched down further in her seat and propped her knees against the dashboard. "Is it haunted?"

It just then dawned on Heero that he hadn't explained why they were going to see the house. "I want to buy it."

Audrey was awake in an instant. "Huh? Wait wha…? You want to _buy_ a house?"

He nodded and grinned over at her.

She just stared back. "Heero, houses are expensive."

"Not this one...at least not the sale price."

She blinked. "Then something's wrong with it."

He just shrugged. "So it's a fixer-upper. Just wait 'till you see it."

She stared at him with a calculating look before slouching back into her seat.

He glanced over at her. He didn't really know what the house looked like either, but it was the only on in the area that that was in a good location and that they could afford.

He wasn't committing to it yet. He just wanted to see.

The house was just outside of Shady Grove on the way to Sanction. It was secluded and had a rather large estate from what he could tell. He knew that it was probably too good to be true, but he didn't want to count it out yet.

A little sleuthing through the internet had led him to the house. Apparently, it had belonged to a farming family almost two decades before Sanction was even founded. Shady Grove, the small farming town that it is—and had been at the time—was the largest town for miles. The family that had owned the house had been the wealthiest in the town and had owned quite a lot of land.

A long drought caused their crops to fail. Instead of waiting out the drought, the family sold their farm to the town, took their money, and moved into the city. The other townsfolk had not had that option. They stuck with their farms until the drought ceased. A lot of the land had been used over the years for farming, but the majority of it remained untouched. No one had even gone into the old house since they moved out—except probably some children who liked to believe that it was haunted. No one ever moved into Shady Grove anymore. They only moved out.

Heero turned off of the blacktop road and onto a smaller gravel one. The directions that he had found led him to this place. He had also found the phone number to the town council—probably his best bet for buying the house.

After almost a minute of riding through trees, the forest opened up into a large field. The entire estate was set apart by a rather broken down fence. That was made of only poles shoved in the ground and then two parallel boards running horizontally to connect them. They had entered the house's estate. Heero could see the house in the distance. As he drew nearer, his heart sank.

"Wow." Audrey said. "Talk about a fixer-upper." She looked over to Heero to see that he looked almost devastated by the looks of the house. The look on his face almost broke her heart. She hadn't known how much he had had his heart set on this, but now she realized that he wanted it badly. She looked over the house again. It was pretty broken down, but it could always be fixed.

The house was wooden, but many of the boards had been broken. A few were missing altogether. The porch appeared to be barely sturdy. The house had once been painted white—or perhaps grey. Either way, the paint had faded to a grayish brown and was chipped and falling off all over the place. Even though all the windows and doors had been partially boarded over, there wasn't a window in the house that was in one piece. Most of the shutters had either fallen or were hanging on by one hinge.

She didn't know much about houses, but she judged that the overall frame was probably still good. At least the roof was in one piece.

She decided that she would at least give it a shot…if only for Heero.

As they pulled to a stop, Audrey quickly hopped out of the jeep. She climbed over the short fence and headed over to the house. Heero followed a little glumly behind her. He had expected the house to be old and a little torn up, but not this bad.

Audrey tiptoed onto the porch testing her weight before setting her foot down. To her surprise, the wood held her. She went over to the nearest window and looked in through a hole that appeared to have been caused by a rock. What she saw inside was almost an amazing contrast to what was outside. The walls, although faded and with wallpaper hanging from them, were in one piece. The floors were covered in dust, but they looked solid. The room that she could see was probably the living room. There was a wall to the left of the doorway that blocked her vision into the next room. The things that really caught her attention though, were the huge fireplace set against the back wall of the living room, and the curved stairway with the intricate carving on the banister.

She edged toward the door and tried the handle. To her delight, it swung open. She took a step back and looked at the boards covering the door. There was a hole at the bottom where some kids had probably pulled a board loose. It was a small hole, but it looked big enough for her to slide under. She crouched down and stuck her head through the hole.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped, hitting her head on the board above her. She pulled her head back out and turned to look at Heero. "Looking inside."

He stood over her, staring down. "Why?"

"Because it's pretty. Take a look." With that, she laid down on her stomach and wiggled into the house.

Heero watched her go. "You really like it?" He had figured that she would never like it. A little spark of hope rekindled itself.

"Yeah." She called back. "Just look at these stairs."

He peeked through the holes in the boarding on the door. Audrey was standing at the base of a large, curved, wooden staircase. She was hardly anything more than a shadow in the dark room. She turned and looked back at him. "Come on!"

Heero crouched down to the hole she had crawled through. He would never fit. "Wait!" He called to her, but she had already disappeared up the stairs.

Heero turned and looked around before turning back to the doorway. He squatted down again and grabbed the lowest board. With one quick yank it came out. He lost his balance and went crashing onto his back. Luckily, no one was around to see.

He got back up and crawled through the doorway. He looked around the living room. It was completely bare. Not a bit of furniture anywhere. Everything was covered in dust, and the ceiling was somewhat unnerving. A lot of it was sagging and he could see a big spot of mold on the ceiling where years of water had leaked through the upper floorboards. Luckily, none appeared to have reached through to the bottom floor.

He glanced up at the stairs once before deciding that he wanted to check the rest of the downstairs first. To the right of the stairway was a short hall that opened to a small open area. He headed there first.

Down the hall and to the right were two doorways. Heero opened them both to see that they opened to two midsized rooms—probably bedrooms. On his left were a door, an arced opening, and another door. The two doorways led to a bathroom and a smaller room. He didn't know what the small room could have been, but it was too small to be a bedroom. The opening led to an open room. He walked through the room and ended up on the other side of the stairs. There was another doorway dead ahead which lead to the kitchen. He was about to take a step inside before he heard a scream and a thump upstairs.

Heero took the stairs three at a time and looked around. A small squeal from the room to his left sent slamming through the door.

He immediately spotted Audrey standing shoeless on a bed, and staring terrified at something on the floor. Heero followed her gaze to see a rather large spider crawling across one of her shoes. The other shoe, obviously used as a weapon, had skidded past the spider and hit the wall. She had terrible aim.

Heero rolled his eyes and grabbed the shoe with the spider. He shook the spider onto the floor and quickly smashed it.

"Eww." Audrey whined, not moving from her spot on the bed. "I have to wear that. But while you're at it, get that one too." She pointed back to the door he had just come to. Another large spider had made a web on the top of the doorframe.

Heero threw the shoe like a javelin and effectively killed the second spider.

Only then did Audrey step off the bed.

While she was putting her shoes back on, Heero took a moment to look around the room. It was probably the master bedroom. It was large, with a king sized bed set against the left wall. It had its own bathroom and a pretty big closet on the opposite wall with a grand fireplace between the two doorways. On the opposite wall was a large floor to ceiling window.

"It's nice isn't it?" Audrey asked. She was standing beside him surveying the room. "I like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was kinda worried when I saw the outside, but the inside has a lot of potential. Well except for those rooms right there. They're pretty nasty. It would probably be better if we just tore them out."

"What rooms?"

Audrey led him out onto the platform from the stairs. There were five doorways besides the one they had just come from. Two were on the wall adjacent to the stairs, two were on the wall across from them, and one was on the wall to their left. Audrey pointed to the two doors adjacent to the stairs. "Those two rooms. The roof above them apparently leaks, and the floor and parts of the walls are pretty much rotted. It would be easier to just tear them out. We don't really need five bedrooms anyway."

Heero nodded. Those were the rooms above the living room. He'd known there was water damage already. Offhandedly, he mumbled. "Seven."

"Huh?"

"There are two bedrooms downstairs."

"Then these are really useless." She gestured to the ones in front of them.

"So…you really like it?"

She nodded.

Heero nodded and pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. "Good. Give me your phone."

* * *

Buying the house had been another hassle full of paperwork, phone calls, and confusion. It had been difficult to explain to the town council—a traditional sort of folk—that they wanted both of their names on the title, even though they weren't married. Many people thought they were crazy for wanting such a dilapidated house, but they were eager to get rid of it and to get their money. It had also been a tad troublesome to get the water turned on. They tried to get the electricity turned on, but they would have to wait until they had inspected all of the power lines, and circuits in the house. 

They had decided to move in that night. Audrey hadn't been too sure about the idea—especially since the house didn't have an unbroken window in it. Heero was sick of staying in the inn though, and he would have preferred to be able to wake up early the next morning and get to work fixing up his new house. Lucy and Anna were sad to see them go, but they had promised to visit sometime.

By 5 in the afternoon, they finally moved in. They put all of their belongings in the upstairs bedroom and headed into Sanction to do some shopping. They picked up everything they figured they would need to at least start cleaning up the old house, some food, and also a few necessities including some bug and rat poison, and a few candles and flashlights. They wouldn't get electricity until at least tomorrow, but their water was turned on by the time they got back.

They dropped all of their bags by the front door and just looked around.

"I can't believe we bought a house." Audrey said after they had stood for a few minutes in silence. She didn't know if her decision to buy the house with him had been very wise. If they ever fell out, he would probably be the one to keep the house. She could always go back to live with her parents, but she would be sad to never see the fruit of all her hard work.

Heero glanced over at her but remained silent. It still seemed odd that they had their own house. They had lived in houses before, but they had always been rented or, in one case, squatted.

Audrey crouched down beside one of the bags and started digging around for candles. "By the way," She said without looking up. "How are we going to pay for this. I don't know about you, but I was leaning on broke before this." She finally turned, holding two candles in her hand and gestured around.

"It wasn't all that expensive as far as houses go." Heero said as he watched her light the candles. "I already paid in full."

Audrey paused in her candle-lighting and gaped up at him. "You did what?! Where did you get all the—OW!!" She shook the match out and stuck her burnt fingers in her mouth. Whining a bit, she looked up at him for an explanation.

"Unlike you, I don't spend all my money." He said with mock snootiness.

She pulled her fingers out of her mouth and pouted. "I spent mine all on you."

He frowned. "It doesn't matter." He crouched down beside her. "The point is, we have a house. We are pretty much broke now though, so don't do anything stupid that will land one of us in the hospital."

"Why do you assume that _I_ would put one of us in a hospital?"

"Why indeed?" He mumbled ironically. He rummaged in one of the bags and pulled out a tape measure, a pencil, and a notebook. "I'm going measure the windows for glass. You go see if any of the beds are sleepable."

Audrey grabbed a flashlight and headed off to check through the bedrooms.

Heero grabbed his own flashlight and headed off to the first window. A few minutes later, he heard Audrey holler from upstairs. "HEERO, IT'S COLD IN HERE!" He just rolled his eyes and wrote down the measurement for the window he was currently working with. A second later, Audrey ran down the stairs. She looked around the room apparently searching for something. When she didn't find it, she strode out of the house.

Heero watched her curiously for a second before going back to what he was doing.

Nearly ten minutes later, Audrey breezed back in. She again looked around the room as if to make sure that whatever she was looking for wasn't right in front of her. Again she didn't find it. "We're tearing out those rooms upstairs right?"

Heero blinked at her, wondering why she was suddenly asking such and odd question. "Yes…?"

Audrey nodded, dug something that he couldn't see out of a bag and headed upstairs. Heero turned back to his window only to jump up a second later when a loud bang echoed from upstairs and some dust—or something—rained down from the ceiling. Then there was another bang…then another.

Heero ran up the stairs and burst through the door. "What are you doing?!" Audrey was posed with a hammer above her head in front of a large hole in the wall.

She looked at him as if her actions should be self-explanatory. "We need firewood."

Heero stared for a second before rolling his eyes. "Are the beds okay?"

She nodded. "They're dusty, but otherwise fine. But umm…" She looked sheepish. "It's sooo cold!"

He just rolled his eyes and went back to his work. They would probably end up in the same bed. It was fine with him. He wasn't terribly cold, but he did agree that it was chilly. Plus, with a house that anyone could easily break into, it would probably be safer if they were in the same room.

Heero finally finished the measurements for every room in the house except for the master bedroom. He pushed the door open and was almost shocked by the sight before him. The floor was no longer covered in dust, but had been mopped. The bed frame was no longer dusty, and the bed was covered with their blankets. Even the walls looked cleaner. The fireplace was lit, and Heero could see a pot hanging inside it. He walked closer to see that it was only water. Curious, he looked around the room. Audrey wasn't there, but the bathroom door was open a crack. Heero went and poked his head inside.

He was met with the sight of Audrey's backside. She was bent over the tub apparently scrubbing it. The floor, sink, and countertops had all been cleaned. He cleared his throat to make his presence known.

Audrey looked over at him and then sat on her heels to appear more dignified. "You need something?"

"No." Heero said drawing his eyes away from her and examining the room again. "I was just looking around."

"Oh. Well I was just cleaning this so we can take baths." She looked grossed out for a second. "There was mold or something growing in it."

Heero cocked an eyebrow at her before looking over his shoulder back into the room. "It looks nice." He said. "But…why is there a pot of water in the fireplace?"

Audrey smiled at him. "I'm going to make hot cocoa."

"Oh." Heero stared for a second, and then just walked back into the bedroom. "Random."

Heero finished measuring the windows. He taped over the holes in the glass so that the room could warm up better. Audrey finished cleaning the bathtub and took a bath. Once they had both bathed, they sat on bed wrapped up in blankets, drinking hot cocoa. They had bought marshmallows and hot dogs too.

After a few minutes, Audrey broke the silence. She was bundled up so much in her blanket that Heero could only see half of her face. "When is your birthday?"

"Huh?" He looked over at her. "I don't have one…why?"

Audrey looked flabbergasted. "What do you mean you don't have a birthday?!"

Heero rolled his eyes. "I have one in the sense that I was born, but I don't know when it is."

"Then make one up."

"You can't just make up a birthday."

"Sure you can. I did."

"No you…what? What do you mean?"

She took a slow sip of her hot cocoa. "No one knew when my birthday was, so we always just celebrated the day I was adopted."

"Wait! Adopted? Gregory and Lillian aren't your real parents?"

"Heero! I can't believe this! How can have we been living together for so long and not know anything about each other?" She sighed, and, a second later, gave Heero an apologetic look. "Sorry. I didn't mean to attack you."

He just nodded, although he still looked curious.

"But yes. They adopted me when I was five. Are there any potentially life changing secrets that you have been keeping from me?" She eyes him with mock suspicion.

He shrugged and shook his head.

"Good." She brightened a bit. "Now on to your birthday dilemma."

"What brought that on?" Heero asked. "Why is it suddenly so important that I have a birthday?"

"Well Valentine's Day is in less than a week, and I was thinking of things to get you. But there are certain things that fall into Christmas gift, Valentine's Day gift, and birthday gift categories, and it suddenly dawned on me that I don't know when your birthday is. As for why it's important, why _not _celebrate the fact that you're alive?"

Heero just blinked. He'd never thought of it that way. Birthdays had always just been another one of those things that the normal people with families had, but which were useless to him.

Audrey finished her hot cocoa and put the mug on floor. She turned back to Heero and squirmed a bit to get comfortable. "So when do you want your birthday to be?"

He shrugged.

"What's on your ID?"

"They're all different."

"What did you put on your Preventer paperwork?"

"That I didn't know."

Audrey sighed. "Come on. There has to be one day that's important to you or that's defined who you are, somehow."

"There were some, but I don't remember the dates."

"So you don't remember any important dates?"

"Uhh…" The only two dates that stuck out were the date of operation Meteor and the date of his final battle of the war—the official peace agreement hadn't come until a few days later, but his part in the whole affair had been over. His birthday could hardly be on Christmas Eve though, so he just thought harder. Then he had it. There was one other day that meant something (good) to him. Although he had felt completely causeless and abandoned at the time, now he realized that that particular day was the first day that he was allowed to act on his own—to do what _he_ felt was right. He had been cut off from Dr. J's orders and had been able to decide on his own path. So as soon as he had been able to move again, he set off to redeem himself. The day that he cherished so much, was the day he woke up after self destructing. By all accounts, he should have been dead. It was then that he realized that he didn't really want to die all that much—especially since it would be so painful—and that he could follow his heart to do what he wanted. "Uhh…July 7?" He attempted.

Audrey smiled.

* * *

The two had spent the remainder of their weekend fixing up their new-ish house. Heero got some glass panes cut and got to work putting them in. Audrey continued to clean the rest of the house, and then continued to knock down the walls upstairs. They had even met their new neighbors—a kind elderly couple who lived at the beginning of the gravel road. Heero and Audrey had been busy when they had come over, but they had promised to visit them when they had time. 

Monday morning was quite unwelcome. The Preventers were doing some house cleaning it would seem.

Wufei and Sally were scheduled to leave that morning to head up an investigation on the house that Mariemaia had held siege in. Heero wasn't sure whether he was happy or not for the other gundam pilot's departure.

They had never really been good friends, and the recent occurrences had certainly put a strain on what little amity they had between them. Nonetheless, both of them were willing—or more likely eager—to put all that behind them.

They had started anew so to speak, and had realized that they were actually quite similar. For the rest of that one week, they had seen each other quite often. Wufei didn't have much to do at the base, but he was stuck there until Sally cleared things up a bit. If he hadn't disappeared into the mountainous forest surrounding the Preventers' base, he could usually be found in the gym. Heero spent quite a bit of time there too, training the recruits.

They had eaten lunch together, although it was not really either of their ideas. Sally had taken it upon herself to make sure that Heero and Audrey were comfortable with the Preventers and so tried her hardest to be around when either of them—especially Heero—had breaks. She had even set up a chess match between the Heero and Wufei once.

Heero had been creamed in short order. He was an okay player for what little experience he had with the game, but Uncle Freddie's few lesson's could not match up with Wufei's lifetime of experience and strategy.

Friday they had sparred again—not for a crowd, but just as a sort of "farewell, no hard feelings" thing. Heero had wanted to wait until his leg was a little better to spar again—although he had been itching for some good exercise. His leg was still not completely healed, but he could maneuver enough to put up a good offense.

Noin and Milliardo were also leaving that afternoon. They were scheduled for a conference in less than a week. Heero didn't care one way or the other if they were around. Noin was always nice to him, but he and Milliardo weren't always on the greatest of terms.

Heero politely bid them farewell. He wasn't very broken hearted about it. He couldn't say the same for Audrey, but she had always been terrible with goodbyes.

He didn't dwell on the sudden loss of "friends"—besides, his mind was preoccupied with other things. Heero had been a little troubled since his and Audrey's talk Friday night. There was one small thing that had stuck in his head and wouldn't leave him alone. He hadn't wanted to ask her about it then, so he had waited to ask his newest source of information on the workings of the world.

"What's Valentine's Day?" Hale stared over at Heero with a disturbed scowl as Heero maneuvered the jeep around the compound.

He had waited until they were away from the troops to ask, and now, with them jogging ten feet behind them, he figured it was the best time.

"Have you been living in a hole, son?"

Heero just shrugged. "Apparently."

Hale sighed. "Well I guess I'll have to tell you. We don't need your girlfriend to up and shoot you again." He crossed his arms and leaned back. "Valentine's Day is the most ridiculous, girly holiday that anyone ever bothered to invent. It's the one day of the year when every man is forced to buy flowers, and chocolate, and jewelry, and expensive dinners for their women."

Heero scowled in confusion. "There's a whole holiday for that?"

Hale nodded. "They'll get you something too. They're just more into than we are—more _emotional_ about it. The chocolate thing is a real problem. She loves it." Heero wasn't sure if Hale was talking about all girls or just his wife. Either way, he figured that he'd better listen. Girls couldn't be too different, could they? "She'll sit there and eat the whole box. Won't even give me a piece. And she'll be happy…for two seconds. Then she'll start complaining about how the chocolate will make her fat." He looked over at Heero ironically. "One year I thought I was smart. I got her fat free chocolate so she couldn't complain. She didn't talk to me for three days."

Heero swallowed nervously. "So…what should I do."

"Hell if I know, but if you figure it out, tell me."

* * *

Valentine's Day was in two days, and Audrey still had no idea what to get Heero. She had never really celebrated Valentine's Day before, and she'd almost completely forgotten about it. 

Now she was sitting in her nice new office getting travel reservations for Noin and Milliardo, and trying to brainstorm for possible gifts for Heero.

She idly ran a search for hotels on the L3 colony—the colony Noin and Milliardo were scheduled to arrive at Tuesday night. She found a rather ritzy one and started looking at the available rooms and rates. Suddenly one popped out at her. She checked the price. It was perfect! And Valentine's Day was Wednesday after all.

Quickly, she minimized the screen and hurried off down the hall. A tad nervously, she walked into Une's outer office and approached the desk. She figured that if she would execute her plan, she would need Une's permission—especially since there was a chance that Noin and Milliardo wouldn't like her joke very much.

"You can go on in." The secretary, Rosa, said before Audrey could even ask.

Audrey knocked and slowly pushed the door open. She poked her head in shyly.

"Come on in." Une said. She was bent over some papers, but had apparently been informed of Audrey's arrival. She glanced up at her. "Did you need something?"

"Um…" Audrey stepped in and shut the door. She hadn't intended to move away from it, though, until Une beckoned her closer. She walked to the desk although she was far from confident. Taking a deep breath. "I wanted your permission to play a Valentine's Day joke on Noin and Milliardo."

Une was obviously surprised by the statement. She looked unsure, but a little curious. "What kind of joke?"

"Well…they need hotel reservations for the night of Valentine's Day, and there's a honeymoon suite at one of the hotels in the area. It's so amazing and love-y that it's funny."

Une blinked, before she smirked. "How funny?"

"The entire room is red with pink hearts on the walls. The bed has red silk sheets and fur on top. And…there's a heart shaped Jacuzzi in the bedroom."

Over the course of the description, Une's eyes had taken on a devilish look. She looked at Audrey as if seeing her in a new light and chuckled a bit. "Get it. I don't even care how expensive it is. You've got my support."

Audrey smiled, the tension leaving her. "Thank you." She said and turned to leave the room. As she reached the door, she thought she heard Une chuckle something about a heart shaped Jacuzzi. She looked back, but Une was again leaning busily over her work.

Audrey just shrugged and headed off to make the reservations. She had found a gift for Noin and Milliardo—a gag gift perhaps—but she still hadn't found one for Heero. This was driving her crazy. She doubted he would ever like flowers, and although he liked candy, he wasn't crazy about it. She was starting to lean toward a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant, but she really didn't have much money. They had to spend all their money on the house. Suddenly an idea struck her. It was simple, a little expensive probably, but it was something that they desperately needed.

* * *

Although Audrey had her solution in hand, Heero was no closer to solving his dilemma. He had no idea what to get Audrey. Until a few days ago, he hadn't known that Valentine's Day existed. 

He didn't know what kind of flowers Audrey liked, and he was now afraid to get her chocolate. He didn't really have the money to treat her to a fancy dinner—not that he knew of any fancy restaurants anyway.

There had to be something that he could do. Then it hit him…he'd call Duo.

Duo would know.

Therefore, when Hale was demonstrating the finer points of deactivating bombs and/or setting them off—a lesson that Heero usually just stood around for—he slipped out of the room to call Duo.

The phone rang five times before Duo finally answered. "Hello?" He sounded half asleep.

"Duo?" Heero greeted, wondering if anything he said would actually register. "It's Heero."

Duo seemed to wake up instantly. "Hey Heero, what's up?"

"I need help."

Duo went quiet. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the statement. Heero was asking for his help? Was the world ending?

"Duo?"

Duo snapped to again and put on a cheerful facade. "And what requires the God of Death's assistance?"

"I need to think of a good Valentine's Day gift."

Another few seconds of silence and then roars of laughter erupted from the other end of the line.

"I'M SERIOUS!" Heero shouted looking around to see if anyone was nearby. "Duo shut up! I don't have much time."

"I know man, Valentine's Day is Wednesday." Duo said through chuckles. "You're in quite a pickle."

"Come on…what are you getting Hilde."

"Who said I'm getting Hilde anything?" Duo said snidely.

"Duo…" Heero's voice was something between a whine and a threat.

"I'm taking her for a ride in my spaceship." He could almost hear Duo grin.

"Was that…an innuendo?"

"No. I'm serious. She really likes space. I'm going to fly her to the moon and let her walk around a bit on it. It's really more like a Valentine's Week thing since you can't get to the moon all that quick."

Heero blinked. "You can do stuff like that for Valentine's Day?"

"Of course." Duo said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the room behind Heero. Heero didn't even flinch. It was just one of the recruits who had failed to deactivate a bomb in time.

Duo had heard it too, though, and was not as unfazed. "Dude, what was that?"

"Just a bomb." Heero said nonchalantly.

"A bomb?!"

"A little one. It's just one of the recruits."

"Heero what are you talking about?"

"Hm?" Then he remembered that Duo didn't know about his new job. "I'm a recruit trainer for the Preventers.

Duo was silent for a second, but then, "You're a Preventer?" he almost laughed. "Have you seen the Changinator?" He put on an accent that Heero couldn't place. "Go away if you want to live!" He chuckled. "You two must look smashing in those uniforms."

Heero rolled his eyes. "Yeah. He was here for a while. He left today though. But can we get back to my problem now?"

"Okay okay." Duo thought for a second. "Hmm…what would Lena like?"

"Who?" Heero asked without thinking, and then, a second later, decided that he'd better clarify the situation. "It's not for Relena."

"WHAT?!" Heero pulled the phone away and rubbed his ear. When he put the phone back to his ear Duo was ranting. "…and you never told me?! I thought we were close! How long, man! How long have you been keeping this from me? Where is the trust?!"

"Duo. Calm down."

"No! I want the truth!" Duo yelled a bit over dramatically. Heero thought that he sounded like a character from a movie. "Who is she?" His voice turned playful. "Is she pretty?"

"Wha…?" Heero wondered at the sudden change in tone, but without hesitation answered. "Yeah. Now help me!"

Duo wasn't going to drop the subject quite so easily though. "Mhmm. And how long have you known each other?"

"Duo. I'm in the middle of work. I don't have time for all these questions."

"Love is patient…"

"Duo…" Heero's voice carried an unspoken threat.

"Love is _kind_…"

"Duo shut up."

"Slow to anger…"

"MAXWELL!"

"Okay okay." Duo sighed. "I'll help you out. And to answer your earlier question, 'all these questions' are important in determining a gift."

"How?" He was irritated, but still somewhat curious.

"Well depending on what stage of your relationship you are in, you get her something different. So, how long have you known each other?"

"Uhh…a little over a year I guess."

"A ye-…Heero! You were dating the last time we saw each other and you never said anything. I even asked!!"

"No! We weren't 'dating' then. We were just living together."

Duo choked. "Living together! You live together?! Heero what part of 'tell your best friend these things' got past you?" He paused and took a calming breath. "Have you slept with her?"

"…yeah…?" Heero said wondering why the question was in any way relevant.

Duo was again silent for a second. But only a second. "He-man!" He sounded shocked, but then got back on subject. "So you two know each other pretty well then."

Heero shrugged before realizing that Duo couldn't see it. "Yeah. I guess."

"So what kind of stuff does she like?"

"Uhh…"  
"You know, like candy, nice dinners, long walks on the beach?"

"Probably yes to the first and second, and I don't know about the last one."

"So why not just take her to dinner?"

He shifted his weight. "I don't know of any restaurants, and—"

"Well find one."

"—_and_," He caught Duo's attention, irritated at the interruption. "I'm near broke."

"Hmm…that is a problem." Duo thought for a second. "So here's what you do. Steal a space ship and take her to the moon."

"Duo I need something feasible."

"Why not just get her chocolate."

"I…" Heero blushed and stuttered. "I…just can't do that…"

"Umm…okay?" Duo sounded a little weirded out, but didn't question him. "Well, all I can tell you is to be creative. Does she like dancing? Take her to a club."

"I don't know of any."

"Well…Does she like plays or ballets?"

"Yeah, but I don't know where to find one."

"Well look for it. Sometimes colleges will have plays for different holidays, and there are dance clubs everywhere."

"Hn."

"Is that all you needed?" Duo asked.

"Pretty much."

"Hmm. Soooo….this girl…on a scale of one to ten, how—"

"I have to go." Heero said, effectively cutting him off.

"Wait wha…?"

"Bye." Heero hung up and then turned the phone off so that Duo couldn't call back. Slipping the phone back into his pocket, he walked back into the detonation chamber. He had an idea, but he would have to check on it.

* * *

The rest of the day and the day after passed far too quickly for Heero's taste. He finally had his Valentine's Day present for Audrey squared away, but he'd cut it close, and he'd gone a little over his budget. They had continued to fix up the house in the meantime. They still didn't have much furniture—only the old beds. They didn't have appliances either. What they did have, though, were new windows, clean floors and water utilities, and one less wall upstairs. They also had gotten the electricity turned on. Although the house was now quite warm, they still slept in the same bed—for reasons neither of them really felt like explaining. 

Working to put their house together, Heero was reminded of the first few months he had spent with Audrey—back when they didn't really know each other and could hardly tolerate each other. He was almost awed by how far they'd come.

Back then, he felt awkward and usually irritated to be in the same room as her. Now, he was buying her Valentine's Day presents.

And speaking of which…

Finally the anticipated/dreaded day arrived. Heero awoke at 6:59 AM. He turned off the alarm clock before it could go off and then rolled over to wake Audrey up. To his surprise, and slight alarm, she wasn't there. He sat up and looked around the room. She was nowhere to be found. Hurriedly, he threw his feet over the edge of the bed and walked out of the room.

When he was halfway down the stairs, he noticed the smell. He sniffed the air again, picking up his pace. He made it to the kitchen at almost a run. There, he found Audrey, fully dressed, staring at him. She smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day." She held up a plate stacked high with pancakes. On top was a heart made of whipped cream and strawberries. There was another plate on the counter with a smiley face made of bacon and eggs.

Despite his confusion as to how she had made all that food, he felt himself grin. It wasn't until she moved to put the pancakes on the counter that he looked around the room. There were a brand new oven and refrigerator sitting there in the kitchen.

"What are those?" Heero pointed to the new appliances. Catching himself, he shook his head. "I mean, where did you get them?"

"I bought them." She said. "A pretty nice deal if I do say so myself. I don't have to pay for a month. I was going to just get the oven, but the smooth-talking salesman gave me a deal on the pair."

He walked over to the fridge to see that it was mostly empty besides milk, eggs, and left over bacon.

"I didn't do much shopping." She explained, hopping up to sit on the counter. "I didn't want to go all the way to Sanction, so I just went to the little shop down the road."

Heero pulled the milk out of the fridge and turned to Audrey. He looked her up and down. "How did you get them in here?"

"What do you mean 'how did I get them in here?'" She flexed dramatically, but if she did have any muscle, Heero couldn't see it.

He just cocked and eyebrow.

She dropped her arms with a pout. "Not that I _couldn't_ have done it by myself, but the delivery men came this morning and installed it."

Heero was taken aback. _Delivery men_ had been in the house and he hadn't heard them? He was slipping.

Then, deciding that there was nothing he could do about it now, he poured himself a glass of milk and headed over to his breakfast.

He took a few bites of pancake, and almost inhaled the bacon. It had been so long since he had had some of her cooking. He looked over at Audrey, who was fixing her own plate. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn't given her present to her. He swallowed. "I got something for you too."

Audrey looked over her shoulder with an excited smile. "Really?"

He nodded, a little nervously. He was pretty sure that she would like it, but he was still worried to give it to her. "I can give it to you now if you like, but you can't use it until tonight."

Audrey cocked her head, wondering what it was.

"Wait a second." He turned and headed back up the stairs as Audrey looked on curiously. A second later he came back.

He hesitated for a second and then handed her a rather fancy looking envelope. Curious, she opened it and pulled out two tickets. Reading them, she bit her lip and chuckled.

Heero turned awkwardly back to his breakfast, shooting glances out of the corner of his eye at her. He wasn't entirely sure what he had just done.

"You're taking me to a ballet?"

"Mmhm." He looked away, embarrassed, and he felt his face heat up a little.

A second later, Audrey's arms were around his neck. "You're so cute when you're nervous." She said, and pecked his cheek. "But thank you."

Heero's face just heated up more.

* * *

They had two hours to get ready. Two. Whole. Hours. It should have been more than enough. Heero had gotten ready in fifteen minutes. Now, an hour and a half later, Audrey was still no closer to being ready than she had been when they'd gotten back from work. 

Well, she had made supper, but that hadn't taken her all that long. Then she had had to take a bath which always took more than a half hour.

Audrey was fretting over what she would wear. Heero just sat on the bed, dressed in a suit and tie, and watched her dig though all her clothes. Every so often, she would pick up a dress and run into the bathroom to look at it in the mirror. She was thankful now that her mother had helped her pack and that she had made her bring a few formal dresses from home. Audrey had never thought that she would actually wear them at the time, but now she was relieved that she had them. She even made a mental note to call her mother and thank her later.

She finally seemed to settle on one, and slammed the bathroom door shut to change into it.

Heero lied back on the bed wondering what he had gotten himself into. When he had told Hale about the ballet, the man had seemed almost afraid for him.

_"You're supposed to try to spare yourself torture, son."_ He'd said.

Heero hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now, he was starting to understand what Hale had meant. If Audrey wasn't ready in fifteen minutes, he would have to speed to get to the ballet on time.

A few minutes later, Audrey ran out of the bathroom. She hopped over to her bag and started digging around for shoes. A second later, she grabbed some and slipped them on.

She straightened with a huff and looked at Heero. "I'm ready." She said. Heero just stared for a second taking in the sight before him. She had on a dark blue floor length dress. It had an open back and a V'd neckline that showed off her ample chest. The dress was tight to reveal her small waste and curves and had a slit up to her mid thigh. A shawl was wrapped around her shoulders to provide what little warmth it would. Her hair was down in her natural curls—a style that Heero realized he liked—and draped down over her shoulders and to her mid back.

She was wearing makeup, he realized after a second. It wasn't a lot—just a little to accentuate her features. It was probably the first time he had ever saw her with it.

Heero blinked. _This night might not be so bad after all._

He stood, being sure to grab his keys and the tickets, and headed for the door.

"Do you have the tickets?" Audrey asked, hurrying after him as fast as she could without falling down the stairs.

Heero waved them at her as he headed out the door.

They hopped into the jeep, which was not quite fancy enough for their outfits, and sped off.

The ballet was not in Sanction, but in another city almost forty miles away. They made it there in a little less than an hour. Heero pulled into a parking space which, even though it was the nearest one he could find, was a block away. He walked around the jeep and, opened Audrey's door for her.

"Why thank you sir." She said playfully, and took his arm.

They quickly headed off to the theater. It was a large, gothic style, stone building. It was beautifully crafted, with statues, columns, and giant staircases. There were a few people still milling about, also dressed in formal attire.

They headed straight up to their seats. Heero had gotten balcony seats. Although they were more expensive, he hadn't really wanted to sit with the main crowd. Plus when he'd dropped his name, the ticket salesman had offered him a discount.

They were the only two on their balcony. Audrey was bubbling with excitement. As she squirmed around in her seat and looked down over the rail to see the rest of the crowd below them, Heero leaned back and started flipping through the program.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed. Audrey finally made her self comfortable and looked down at the stage.

Heero was still not entirely sure what a ballet was. He thought that it had something to do with dancing, but he had never been to one.

A man walked out welcoming the crowd for coming that night, and dedicating it to the sweethearts for Valentine's day. He explained that the ballet was a romance of some sort. Heero listened for the first few minutes, but afterwards, tuned the man out. He glanced over at Audrey to see that she was staring attentively at the man on stage.

A few seconds later, the man finished his speech to a roar of applause, and left the stage.

The curtains rose. A woman in a brown, tattered dress was sitting oddly in the middle of the stage bathed in a spotlight. The orchestra, which was positioned just in front of the stage, began to play a slow tune.

And so the ballet began.

After a few minutes of watching people dance around the stage, Heero leaned over to Audrey.

"Are they ever going to say anything?" He whispered. He didn't know why he was whispering. There was no one around.

"No." She whispered back. "You interpret the story from the dance, and the feeling from the movement. No speech is required if the dancers are good enough."

He turned back to watch the ballet. From what he cold see, there were just people dancing around the stage. A few minutes later, he leaned over again. "What's going on?"

"Hm?" Audrey continued to watch, but leaned a little closer to explain it. "That girl is in love with a man of a higher class. It's set hundreds of years ago, when people could only marry in their class. She wants to catch his eye, but the only way to do it is to go to a ball. People of her social class can't go to balls unless they dance there as entertainment—kind of like a halftime show I guess. The problem is, she doesn't know how to dance. Therefore, she goes to a witch to get a dancing charm. There's the witch there. Right now, she's making a deal with her. The witch gives her magic shoes, but in return for her vision."

Heero watched as the lead girl danced around blindly, and the witch, did a somewhat maniacal dance one step behind the blinded girl.

He could have never figured that out on his own. He looked back over at Audrey who was again staring down at the dancers. As long as she enjoyed it…

He started idly leafing through the program again. He thought that there might me a summary of the plot somewhere in it, but it was too dark to see. With a silent sigh, he just leaned back and continued to watch.

After a while, his eyelids started to droop. He was just about to doze off when the lights came on. He snapped awake and looked around. "Is it over?"

"It's the intermission." Audrey explained standing up. "I'm going to the ladies' room."

Heero stood and stretched tiredly before plopping back into his seat. Ballets were definitely not his thing. After a few minutes of waiting, he pulled out the cell phone to check the time. To his surprise, there was a missed call. He didn't recognize the number. He looked around suspiciously before hitting redial.

The phone rang twice before someone answered. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS!!!" Heero pulled the phone away from his ear, but he could still hear someone yelling on the other end. "Audrey Harper this is _not_ funny!"

Heero put the phone back to his ear. "Who is this?"

The person stopped yelling instantly upon hearing his voice. "Heero?" They asked sheepishly.

Heero quickly placed the voice now that they weren't yelling. "Noin?...what's the matter?"  
"Your girlfriend played a cruel joke on me and…" There was the sound of shuffling, and suddenly Milliardo's voice was on the other end.

"Yuy?"

"Yeah…?"

"I'm going to kill you! This was your idea wasn't it?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Heero said genuinely.

It wasn't quite genuine enough for Milliardo. "Don't play dumb with me. I know you had a hand in this."

It was then that Audrey walked back into the balcony. Heero turned to her, looking like he was under attack. "What did you do?"

"Me?" She looked clueless, and then she noticed the phone. "Who are you talking to?"

"Noin and Zechs." He said. Audrey mumbled an 'oh' immediately comprehending what was going on. She grinned a bit and sat down reaching out her hand for the phone.

Heero was all too willing to hand it over.

"Hello?" Audrey said sweetly.

"YOU!" Milliardo sounded angry. "How could you…PINK?!"

Heero heard the shout all the way from his chair. Cocking an eyebrow, he mouthed "Pink? Pink what?" He was suddenly more curious to know what she had done.

"It's Valentine's Day." Audrey said as if that explained all her actions.

Heero heard Milliardo say something else, but he couldn't make it out. He leaned closer and put his ear next to the phone so that he could hear better.

"You should have told her that it was your idea." Audrey said. "I even got you champagne…oh you're not complaining about that now are you?"

"The champagne wasn't pink." He grumbled.

Heero was finding it hard to stand his curiosity. "What did you do?"

Audrey glanced over at him. "They needed a hotel room, so I got them the honeymoon suite." Heero stared for a second before he burst out laughing.

Milliardo had been quiet up until then but now he was yelling again. "Yuy! It's not funny!"

Noin snatched the phone back. "Audrey?"

"Yeah?"

"I cannot believe that you rented this room for us."

"Don't you like it?"

Noin's voice dropped to a whisper. "There's only one bed."

"Of course." Audrey said. "My Valentine's gift to you."

"Spare me your gifts." She said. "You're lucky I'm not going to tell Lady Une about this."

"I already told her." Audrey said. "She thought it was hilarious. I think she was quite keen on the heart-shaped Jacuzzi."

Heero had nearly sobered up, but at the mention of the Jacuzzi, he fell over with laughter again.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. "Oh. I gotta go. Intermission's over."

"Intermission? Where are you?"

"At a ballet."

"You got Heero to a ballet?"

"He took me."

"Awww." Noin said. "How sweet."

"Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Enjoy your stay." With that she hung up and, after checking that the phone was on silent, handed it back to Heero.

He was still chuckling every now and then at the idea of Zechs Merquise, the famous Lightning Count, spending the night in a pink room with a heart-shaped Jacuzzi.

Audrey tapped him lightly as the music came back on. "I'll show you the picture later." She promised.

Heero nodded and turned back to watch the rest of ballet. The night wasn't turning out to be so bad after all.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and those who have stuck with me the entire time. I really appreciate it!

Reviews are always welcome!


	22. A Gift for Audrey

Chapter 22- A Gift for Audrey

Heero stood awkwardly at the front door of his house. He was somewhat afraid to enter. He was well aware that it was Audrey's birthday—he had been anticipating the date for a few weeks—and he was also well aware that he had no gift to give her.

That wasn't to say that he _hadn't_ gotten her one. He just didn't have it anymore. He'd given it to Mariemaia.

But perhaps his situation required a bit more explaining. He was quite confused as to how he had gotten into the predicament himself.

He supposed that it all started about two months ago….

When he'd first noticed anything odd (incidentally the same day that Audrey _did _anything odd—or at least odder than was usual) he and Audrey had been sitting on stools in their newly semi-renovated kitchen eating dinner. It had been rather good, he remembered, and Audrey had cooked a bit more than she normally did. And since he felt half-starved, he had no qualms about helping himself to it.

"Are you going to eat _all_ of that?" Audrey asked pointing to the pile of pork chops, cream potatoes, and green beans he had heaped onto his plate.

Heero nodded, mumbling "'sgood" through a mouthful of pork chops. He was somewhat confused to see that she looked as though she would prefer that he didn't eat it all. He looked down to her plate. It was almost untouched. He swallowed and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are _you_ going to eat _that_?"

"Yes." She said stiffly, but didn't move to eat any.

Heero shoveled in a few more bites—during which time Audrey still ate nothing—before he decided to bring it up again. "_When_ are you going to eat it?" He could probably take care of it if she didn't want to. He was especially hungry today, since he had had to actually exercise with the recruits. It had been the recruits' last day, so they had gone though physical tests. Heero and Hale had had to participate in the tests more often than not.

"Later." She said.

"You sure?"

She nodded, staring at his plate as food continued to disappear. After a few minutes, she spoke. "You're going to get fat eating all that."

Heero had been inconspicuously watching her watch him. Now he put down his fork and fixed her with a look. "Is there a problem?"

She gave him a sweet smile and shook her head.

Heero cocked an eyebrow at her, and then looked down at his food. He was starting to get nervous. "Is it poisoned?"

She had the decency to look offended. "Of course not. I'm just wondering why you're eating so much all of a sudden."

"I'm hungry." He stated. "And why did you cook so much if you don't want me to eat it."

She didn't answer. Instead, she pursed her lips and sank low in her seat. She picked up her fork and started slowly nibbling on her vegetables. Heero noticed that she never touched the meat.

Heero finished his dinner, and with one more suspicious glare at her, headed up to take a shower.

When he finished his shower, Audrey had finally finished her food.

* * *

He continued to notice suspicious things in the following week and a half. Once Audrey taken the jeep during their lunch break and gone shopping. He never saw the results of that shopping trip, and when he'd asked her what she'd bought, she'd quickly changed the subject.

Another time, Heero been heading out to the old barn to inspect the frame, but Audrey had begged him not to go in it. She'd said that it was too dangerous because there was a snake inside. Heero had immediately prepared to either kill the snake or somehow get it out of the barn, but Audrey had put on such a show of being worried for his safety that he'd ended up not going into the barn at all.

Finally, Heero was getting too suspicious to just sit around. After one particularly rainy day, Heero spotted footprints going from the house to the barn. He hadn't thought much of her odd behavior before, but now with the proof right before him, he was shocked.

Audrey was hiding something from him?

That night, when he headed upstairs after dinner for his usual shower, he waited a few minutes and then snuck back downstairs. He looked out of the kitchen door and found that the barn door was open. Quietly, he slipped outside and headed across the yard.

He was just about to the door when Audrey slipped out. She was obviously shocked to see him. "What…what are you doing here?" She moved to stand in front of the opening in the doorway. "I thought you were taking a shower."

Heero crossed his arms and looked sternly down at her. "What are you hiding in the barn?"

"Hiding? Me?" She nudged the door closed. "Noth—"

Suddenly there was a loud bark.

The noise surprised Heero. He looked around the yard before turning back to Audrey for an explanation. He was pretty sure that it had come from the barn.

"That was…uh…me…" She said rather unconvincingly.

Heero rolled his eyes and nudged her aside. He grabbed the barn door handle and started pulling the door open. Audrey tried to block him, but she hardly slowed him down. Again, Heero heard barking. When he had the barn door open enough, he slipped in, Audrey tailing a few inches behind him.

His eyes immediately came to rest on a rather old, skinny dog. It was lying on an old pile of dirty, probably bug-infested hay and had bowls of dog food and water in front of it. It barked at them, and then stood on wobbly legs and limped over to Audrey.

"Why is there a dog in the barn?" Heero asked, giving Audrey a stern glare.

She gave him a slightly nervous smile as she patted the dog's ears. "His name is Yeller." She said. "You know…like the movie. He wandered up a little over a week ago. I think he's sick."

"He's dying." Heero said bluntly while surveying the dog. It looked ancient. It was gaunt and gangly, and its fur was patched with grey and was falling out in places. It certainly didn't appear like it would live much longer.

Audrey ignored his comment. She seemed to think that as long as she took care of it, it would stay alive. She was setting herself up for heartache.

"Don't get too attached to it." He warned her.

She just continued to play with the dog.

And sure enough, barely a month later, Yeller died.

* * *

It had been a Sunday evening. Heero was upstairs busily hacking into a satellite so that he could get a good internet connection. When he'd finally gotten through, he ran his usual search for Relena's and the other gundam pilots' whereabouts, and also on the Earth Sphere news. These searches were becoming less and less frequent—especially since he could glean bits of information from Audrey—but he figured that was pretty overdue for one anyway.

After nearly an hour, he decided to take a break. He hadn't heard from Audrey in a while, which wasn't all that odd. Although she was usually quite energetic and loud, she had her quiet days.

After descending the stairs, he looked around a bit to see if he could spot Audrey anywhere. Then he noticed that the barn door was open a bit. He rolled his eyes and headed over to the fridge to get a glass of milk. She was always with that dog. She would come in soon though. It was growing dark.

He headed back upstairs, milk in hand, to get back to his computer. About fifteen minutes later, he realized that he hadn't heard Audrey come back into the house.

A bit concerned now, he headed downstairs again. He looked into the twilight and could barely discern that the door was still open a crack. He grabbed a flashlight, slipped on his shoes, and headed out to the barn.

The sight that greeted him was not the one he expected.

Audrey was kneeling in the muddy, hay-covered ground absently petting Yeller.

Yeller was dead. He noticed that right off.

Heero didn't know whether or not Audrey knew this, though. He walked over to her and kneeled down beside her. She was shaking and sniffling every now and then, but her sobs were mostly silent.

_How long has she been out here?_ Heero wondered. He gently took the hand that she was petting the dog with.

She turned slowly toward him, tears streaking down her face. "He's dead." She managed to whisper. "He died."

Heero nodded without comment and put an arm around her shoulders.

She leaned brokenly toward him and buried her face in his shoulder. "He died." She sobbed. "I tried…." He felt her hands clench around his shirt and looked up at him sniffling. "I tried…I really did…Did I…do something w-wrong?"

Heero wiped the tears from her face, but they were just replaced by more. He shook his head. "No." He said. He pulled her to her feet. She numbly allowed him to lead her out of the barn. "Yeller was old. There was nothing you could have done."

She had cried for hours before finally falling asleep.

* * *

The next morning, she went around as if in a daze. Heero had no idea how she could have gotten so attached to the dog so quickly. Luckily (perhaps) for him, Noin was ready and willing to give him advice.

After a two week long conference, Milliardo and Noin had traveled to the colony X18999 to check on the disarmament status. Afterwards, they had returned to Earth. They were scheduled to stay for a little over a week to celebrate Relena's birthday.

First thing in the morning, Noin checked in on Audrey. Although her visit had been more for business than catching up, she instantly noticed Audrey's change in demeanor. She'd tried to bring it up in conversation, but it was somewhat difficult to have a friendly chat when talking about the removal of uranium and titanium from the colony and the destruction of leftover weapons.

Therefore, when she couldn't find out what was wrong, she decided to ask Heero.

They didn't actually get to talk until lunch—which Audrey had declined to come down for. Noin was only growing more worried, and Heero seemed a bit concerned as well. She was ready to find out what was going on, and just how long it had been going on, so she got Milliardo to help her corner Heero in the cafeteria.

"She's just…usually so cheerful." Noin said, deciding to bring up the issue without delay. "This isn't like her. Did something happen?"

Heero rolled his eyes, although he cast a glance to the empty seat beside him, as if expecting Audrey to suddenly appear there. "Her dog died." He said before giving a summarized account of her attempt to revitalize it.

Noin frowned sympathetically as he talked. Even though she hadn't known that Audrey had a dog, she knew what it felt like to get attached to something and lose it.

Milliardo, however, was not quite as sympathetic. "Get her another one." He said smoothly, while sipping on a soda.

"You can't expect to just replace it." Noin reprimanded him. "She was obviously attached to it." She looked at Heero. "You need to just give her time. Get her another dog later. If you get one too soon, she may resent it."

Heero and Milliardo both snorted, and then realizing that they'd done it in synchronization looked pointedly away from each other.

Noin chuckled a bit before getting serious again. "We should try to cheer her up." She suggested. "You know, take her mind off it."

Heero blinked at her. "How?"

"Besides being especially nice to her, you can maybe take her somewhere."

He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for a suggestion.

"I don't know." Noin sighed at his helplessness. "Maybe a visit to her parents."

Before she could finish the sentence, Heero was shaking his head vigorously.

"I think you're overreacting." Milliardo said boredly to Noin.

Heero was quite uncomfortable to realize that he was about to say the same thing.

"You always say that." Noin said smoothly. "When it comes to feelings, and that sympathetic, gentle touch, I'm afraid that I am more adept than you. Audrey wears her feelings on her sleeve most of the time. Right now, she's miserable. Since we can see that, it's our responsibility to cheer her up."

"It was just a dog." Heero said.

"Not to her." Noin responded quickly. "He was her friend, and from what you tell me, this might not be just about his death. If she was trying her hardest to keep the dog alive, and the dog died anyway, she probably feels like she failed it."

Heero and Milliardo just stared.

After a few seconds, Heero sighed. "So I should…do something…"

Noin nodded as if she had been explaining something complicated to a small child.

"Like…"

Noin shrugged and stood up "You know her better than I do, probably. You think of something."

Noin left, and Milliardo followed behind her. Heero leaned back in his chair with an exasperated expression. He'd had no idea what to do to cheer her up, but the situation did give him the perfect idea for a birthday present. Since her birthday was in a month, she would have time to get over Yeller.

* * *

Therefore, he did a little research on puppies in the area. He'd found a newborn litter, and had reserved one for whenever it was weaned.

His plan was perfectly laid out. He would have a cute little ball of fuzz to present to Audrey for her birthday, and she would finally be able to get over Yeller.

But of course, something had to go wrong. The puppy's owner had called a week before Audrey's birthday to tell him that people were taking the puppies left and right. There was only one male left, and if Heero didn't pick it up soon, he would be stuck with a female. That was the last thing Heero had wanted, so he picked up the puppy—a male—early. During his lunch break actually, because he didn't want to risk it.

The only problem was that he had nowhere to put it. The puppy might suffocate in the car, plus it had been crying since the minute he had taken it away from its mother. Then, there was the added problem of Audrey seeing it as soon as she got in the jeep. Therefore, he had done the only thing he could think of: He'd taken it to Hale.

But apparently, Hale's daughter had a cat, and he couldn't take the puppy home.

So Heero was forced to do the next best thing: He went to Une. He knew that it was a long shot, especially since her hands were so full already with overseeing the Preventers, and helping Mariemaia to recover. Still, he was quite out of options.

To his surprise, though, Une had jumped at the idea. She'd said that Mariemaia was bored sitting around all day, and would love to play with a puppy. She'd left to bring it home right after Heero had left her office.

That was only where his problem began.

* * *

He'd arrived at Une's penthouse apartment to pick up the puppy. He'd anticipated no problem with this particular mission. What could possibly go wrong? All he had to do was walk inside, take the puppy and walk back out.

Now a few hours later, standing in front of the house, puppyless and soaking wet, he admitted that the task had been harder than he thought.

But still further explanation is required, for even though he had given the puppy to Une and Mariemaia to baby-sit, that did not explain why he didn't have it now.

Back track a bit...

He had dropped Audrey off at home, and after giving her a not-quite-clear excuse, had headed to Une's apartment. Upon arriving there, Une escorted him in and led him to Mariemaia's bedroom.

Heero stepped cautiously into the room. It was painted a pale pink, and had a few rather untouched stuffed animals on shelves. There were also a few books that looked, not so untouched.

His eyes instantly rested on Mariemaia. She was sitting in a rather flowery bed propped up on pillows. "Hello." She said politely, although seemed a bit anxious to see him.

"Hello." Heero repeated. He just stood there awkwardly for a second before pointing to the puppy on her lap. "I just came to get the dog." He took a step forward, but Mariemaia stopped him.

"You can't have him."

Heero blinked, and then took a calming breath. "That's my dog."

"Not it's not. Ms. Une said so."

"Wha…" Heero turned to look back at Une.

Une fixed Mariemaia with a stern look. "Now Mariemaia, the puppy is a birthday gift for someone. You have to give it to Heero."

Mariemaia held the puppy more tightly. It wiggled and licked her hand. She sent Heero a glare. "You can't give things to people and then take them back. That's not good manners." She stated.

Une was about to reproach her, but Heero butt in.

Heero scowled. "I never gave it to you. You were just babysitting it."

"_He_ is a boy." She said sternly. "Not an 'it.' Remember your manners, Mr. Yuy, or I will have you removed from my room."

His scowl darkened determinedly. "I'm not leaving without the dog."

"Mariemaia." Une said calmly. "I told you that you couldn't keep him. You have to give him back."

Mariemaia's lip quivered, but she quickly covered it with a stern look. She loosened the hold on the puppy so that it could totter around the bed. She looked at Heero, being sure that she had his attention. "Fine. But…you'd…you'd better take care of him. He doesn't like to sleep by himself, so you have to keep him in the bed with you."

Heero snorted. _Fat chance of that._

Mariemaia ignored his snort. "And he's scared of the dark, so…listen!"

Heero snapped his attention to the bedridden girl and scowled.

"Now, as I was saying…You have to keep a nightlight, or leave the door open a crack. And…" Her throat seemed to choke, but she again tried to cover it up. "And he likes French fries." She sniffed and, trying hard to make her face stony, she looked out of the rain-covered window.

Heero sighed deeply. He couldn't believe this was happening. "Mariemaia, would you like to keep the dog?" He asked in monotone before he could stop himself.

She sniffed and nodded, her lip trembling slightly.

Heero sighed again. "Fine. Keep it." He turned dejectedly to leave, but was met by a softly smiling Une.

She ushered him into the living room and closed the door behind her. "I…I don't know how to thank you for this." She said. "I never thought she would get so attached to it so quickly. I guess…she doesn't really have any friends, and she can't get around much. But just tell Audrey that it's my fault." She pulled out her wallet and wrote Heero the cheque to pay for the dog.

Heero just shrugged, trying not to meet her eyes, as he took the cheque. He had no idea what he was going to do about Audrey's birthday now that he had just given her present away.

* * *

Which led him, an hour later, to where he was now. The man who had sold him the first puppy had long since given away the rest of them. Heero had then tried to get another puppy at the pet store, but all they'd had were fish, a snake, and a tarantula. He didn't think any of those would do very well to replace Yeller, so he just went home.

After what seemed like hours standing in front of the door, he finally built up his courage, and trudged inside with a defeated air about him. Audrey scurried into the living room, looking worried. "Where have you been?" She looked him up and down. He was soaked to the bone since he'd been too depressed to bother with an umbrella. "Are you okay?" Before he could answer, she started pulling his jacket off. "You should put some dry clothes on before—"

Heero gently brushed her hands away and looked down at her. He had no idea how to tell her that he didn't have a present for her. He stared at her for a second trying to think of something.

She stared back before placing a hand on his forehead.

Heero pulled her hand off, but continued to hold it in his own. He figured he would just cut to the chase. "I was trying to get your birthday present, but I screwed up."

She blinked at him, not sure how to take the statement. Instead, she started pulling him into the kitchen. "Come warm up."

"No." He pulled away and stared down at her. "Let me tell you how."

"Oookay…?" She slid onto the stool behind her curious and a little worried at his odd behavior.

He sighed and looked at the floor. "I got you a puppy." He said. She looked excited, but Heero gave her a look to dim her hopes. "I knew how much it hurt you when Yeller died, so I thought I would get you another one. But…" He shifted his weight and glanced at her before looking determinedly back at the floor. "I got it a week ago, and I needed somewhere to keep it. Une volunteered, because she thought Mariemaia might like to play with the puppy. But then Mariemaia got too attached to it, and she got upset when I tried to take it back. So now…she has your dog."

He looked back to Audrey and was surprised to find that, instead of being angry or upset, she was trying hard not to laugh.

"What?" He said offensively.

"That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard." She giggled. She jumped off the stool and threw her arms around him, ignoring the fact that he was soaking wet. "But thank you, I guess. It was a nice effort at least." She was still giggling.

"So…you're really not mad?"

She backed away and shook her head with a smile. A second later, she looked down, and with a gasp, crossed her arms in front of her.

"What's wr…oh." Heero blushed a bit, noticing that he'd gotten her shirt wet. Unfortunately, it had been white.

Audrey chuckled again before quickly turning and running up the stairs.

Heero stared after her for a second, before he allowed a small smirk to creep onto his face.

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed that.

As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed.

Reviews always appreciated.


	23. Here for the Party

Chapter 23- Here for the Party

Heero, Noin, and Milliardo were called into Une's office Monday morning for the unlikeliest of things. Apparently, Relena Peacecraft was planning to have a party, and Une didn't like the way she was handling it. Therefore, she wanted the three people gathered in her office to do something about it.

"I've asked her for details on the security arrangements, and not only has she refused to give them to me—she's refused to allow the Preventers to have any hand in it."

Milliardo sighed in exasperation. Apparently, he'd known about the party and Relena's stubbornness already.

"I'm sure you all have been following the news and whatnot. Relena's new non-pacifist stance has shaken quite a few important figures, and even some rather…radical ones. It is not a good time for her to be stingy on security—especially with the lives of so many important people in the balance. That is why I want you three to have a talk with her."

Milliardo looked close to protesting. He had wanted to take over the reigns of the party and do it all his way, but Une had urged him against it.

Again, she held up a hand to stall his argument. "Now I know you've already tried to reason with her, but it never hurts to try again." She gestured to Heero and Noin. "It should be easier to get her to cooperate with the proper backup. Noin was practically Relena's mentor during the war, and Relena has always…" She paused for a second to think of a word. "…respected…Heero's opinions."

Heero frowned but made no comment.

"Now I've got three passes for the private jet." Une said sliding an envelope across the desk. "I'm sorry about the short notice, but this is an important affair. Even if we can't convince her to allow us to supply security, we're going to have to find a way to do it without her permission. Your flight leaves at 8 AM tomorrow." She stood. "And please be sure to get what plans she has made. I want to know everything. The layout of the grounds, the house, even what drinks they're serving."

The other three nodded and took their tickets. Heero stared at his. He had had no idea when he'd walked in that morning that she was going to send him away. Noin and Milliardo filed out, but Heero stayed where he was standing. After a few seconds, he looked up at Une.

"Is there a problem?" She asked.

He blinked at her, back at his ticket, and then at her again. "No…but what about-"  
She cut him off. "It's just for a few days of course. Hale can do fine on his own. I'll explain the situation to him. Of course…if you don't want to go…you can always refuse."

Heero shook his head and put the ticket in his pocket. "No it's…alright."

* * *

He held off on telling Audrey until that night when they'd gone home. He didn't really know if he wanted to go much less how to convince her that it was a good idea. 

Finally, when they were both in bed, Heero spoke. He knew that Audrey was probably about to fall asleep, so he decided to just get right to the point. "Une's sending me out of the country."

Audrey jumped, both at the suddenness of his speech, and at what he had said. She propped herself up on an elbow and looked at him.

Heero sat silently watching her reaction. He hadn't known if she would be shocked or upset, or if she wouldn't care at all. He'd hoped it wouldn't be the last one.

Audrey's eyes glazed over as a million questions and scenarios ran through her head. She hadn't thought that there had been any violent uprisings lately. She usually didn't keep up, but she was more in touch with the news since getting her new position. But she was so used to being out of the loop that it wasn't difficult for her to imagine that a new war had sprung up without her notice, and he was going off to fight in it. A look of mingled horror and urgency spread across her face. Her mouth moved for a few seconds, before she could make a sentence. "For…for how long?"

Heero shrugged, feigning nonchalance. Although he didn't like to see her upset, he was silently grateful that she obviously cared. "Not long. A week at the most."

She relaxed in relief that he wouldn't be gone for very long, but she was suddenly curious as to why he was leaving in the first place. "So...what's going on?"

He sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes at the entire idea. "Relena Peacecraft." He said simply.

Audrey gasped. "She wasn't kidnapped _again_?!"

"No." Heero said. "She's throwing a party, for hundreds of dignitaries to go and mingle and…I don't know…I guess get to know each other personally so that they can work better together. Anyway, her move away from pacifism has turned many politicians off. They see it as some kind of betrayal." He looked up at Audrey expecting to find her completely lost.

To his surprise, she was nodding in understanding. "Milliardo and Noin talk about that quite often." She explained upon noticing his look. "They say there's no better way—that her new stance is 'more realistic and is a sign that she is maturing as a politician.'" She quoted with a shrug. "I don't really know why it's such a big deal. Not many people believed in total pacifism wholeheartedly to begin with. At least…I don't think so."

Heero stared. "That's debatable. People were disgusted by the death toll and destruction during the war. They wanted it to stop, no doubt. Everyone did. But some people called for a quick fix rather than a solution. That's where the big pacifism trend came from. Everyone was tired of the fighting. Now whether they really believed that just stopping everything in motion would solve anything…" He shrugged.

"Right but…surely they couldn't have believed that suddenly converting to pacifism in the middle of the war would solve anything. I mean they must've taken some history classes. They should have known that there were other ways to conquer people than by just—" Before she could finish her sentence Heero had rolled on top of her and pressed his lips to hers.

Audrey was frozen in shock by the sudden unexpected move, but soon melted into the kiss. She wiggled a bit to get more comfortable and then ran a hand through his hair.

After a few minutes Heero pulled back with a grin.

Audrey chuckled. "What was that for?" She allowed her hand to continue playing in his hair.

"Because…" He wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled over so that she was lying on his chest. "I like when you talk politics."

She chuckled. "I'll have to do it more often."

He laughed as well, but then turned serious. He looked down at her sadly. "I don't want to leave."

"Aww." She gave him puppy eyes. "Is someone going to miss me?"

He gave a doubtful huff.

Audrey frowned and propping herself up a bit, poked a finger into his chest. "You'd better. Don't think I haven't heard all those stories about you and Relena."

"What stories?" He asked, curious, but somewhat worried.

She sent him a disdainful look. "Don't look so panicky. I might think there's some substance to them."

He was silent, still wondering what stories there could possibly be about him and Relena, and where they had come from.

Audrey fidgeted with his shirt for a few seconds. After watching him squirm long enough, she broke the silence. "Where exactly are you going?"

Heero jumped a bit and looked down at her. "Uhh…the Peacecraft Estate. Where we went to school."

"Oh." She fidgeted some more. "For….?"

Heero hid a smirk. "Some hot steamy—" She started to roll off him, but he quickly tightened his hold on her. "It's about her party."

She looked attentive again.

"Despite the recent upset over her shift in theory, she's skimping on the party's security. There are going to be hundreds of the dignitaries there, some of which probably don't see eye to eye, and many of which probably don't like her right now. She's not letting the Preventers have any hand in the security, and so Zechs, Noin and I are going to try to convince her otherwise."

"Oh." Audrey said. "And that will take a week?"

Heero nodded. "She's very stubborn about things like this. It took us months to convince her to take up arms to defend her country during the war, and it took another year for her to decide to make a physical stand for what she believes in instead of just talking about it."

Audrey turned her head to rest her cheek on his chest. She nodded lightly, to show that she was listening, but she was slowly falling asleep. "I think I'll paint the house while you're gone." She mumbled and made herself more comfortable.

Heero grunted to show that he'd heard. The house was the least of his concerns at the moment. He was dwelling on how awkward his meeting with Relena would be and about what other people had obviously said about the relationship between the two of them. There was no doubt in his mind that it was because of these stories that Une was even sending him to begin with. After a few minutes, he asked. "So about these rumors…?" He looked down only to find Audrey fast asleep.

He scowled slightly, but the scowl melted into as amused smile. Even if it was just for a few days, he would truly miss her.

With that thought, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Heero was attacked by a tearful Audrey before he could board the plane. He had expected her to have gotten over crying every time someone left, but she apparently hadn't. 

"I won't even be gone that long." He said rubbing her back.

He was painfully aware that Noin, Une, and most embarrassingly, Zechs were watching from a few feet away and whispering to each other.

"That's what you said last time." She mumbled into his shoulder

He had to give her that one. "But…I'm telling the truth this time." He couldn't help but grin a bit, although he tried to hide it in her hair. "We're going to have a little chat…or two…and then come straight back."

Audrey nodded and stepped back wiping her eyes.

Milliardo snickered a bit, alerting Audrey to his presence. This turned out to be a bad move on his part, because she just then remembered that he and Noin would not be returning to base after their conference with Relena.

In less than a second, Audrey had Milliardo in an awkward hug. It was Heero's turn to snicker as Milliardo stood there stunned. After a second Audrey let go and moved on to Noin.

Noin patted the girl's back warmly and assured her—rather unnecessarily—that she would call daily.

The three extricated themselves and headed to their awaiting plane.

Ten hours and five time zones later—courtesy of their private jet—Heero, Noin, and Milliardo were welcomed into the Peacecraft Mansion and escorted into a rather large sitting room. Milliardo plopped into an easy chair, while Noin and Heero looked about the room. Apparently it had been refurnished since the last time Noin had been there.

After a few minutes, Noin and Heero also sat down. Relena would probably be arriving soon. Despite the late hour, they had decided to not waste any time in getting the negotiations under way.

Heero really had no idea what to expect. He had never actually participated in a conference—although he had watched some—and he really didn't know what good he'd be. He understood the reason Une had sent him along though. He had always noticed Relena's odd attraction—bordering on obsession—to him. Although it was at times unsettling, not to mention annoying, he knew that whatever charm he held over her would be useful in swaying her toward their ideas.

Less than a minute after the three had settled themselves in, Relena walked calmly into the room, Pagan following closely behind. Relena stopped behind the chair closest to the door and looked at the three people assembled in matching chairs around the coffee table. Her eyes rested for a moment on Heero, but instead of the warm look she usually gave him, her gaze was stony. She then looked pointedly at Milliardo. "I know what you all are here for, and although I am grateful that you have taken the time out of all of your busy schedules to come and visit me, my answer is 'no.'"

Noin smiled patiently. "Perhaps we can just have a little chat." She motioned for Relena to sit, which she did. Pagan sat as well despite the fact that he was technically the butler. He had helped Noin protect Relena during the war, and he was determined to continue to protect her.

The room was engulfed in silence.

No one looked especially inclined to say anything, so Noin took it upon herself to start a conversation.

"Well Miss Relena, how have you been? I hear your Terra-forming project in the O-2 Region is coming along nicely."

"Yes it is, thank you." Relena said tersely.

Noin looked taken aback. Heero and Milliardo shared a look, but neither spoke.

"Is something the matter?" Noin asked.

"No." Relena quipped, intentionally avoiding looking at Heero. "I'm just busy. So if we're finished with the idle chatter, can you please get to the point so I can get back to work?"

"Relena, perhaps you should be thankful that we are looking out for your best interest." Milliardo said sternly, and then held up a hand to quell her forthcoming argument. He wasn't often strict with his sister, especially since he thought that he needed to make up for all his years as an OZ soldier. However, he knew the importance of the situation, and he could not let his sister's bad mood get in the way of her safety. "Now I know that you're busy, and apparently not at all happy to see us, **but**" He stressed the word. "You will remember your manners, and listen to what we have to say."

Noin looked amazed by Milliardo's handling of Relena, and by the fact that she grudgingly obeyed. Heero cocked an amused eyebrow at the blonde man.

Relena disliked being treated like a child, and she especially disliked the way Heero looked so smug at her treatment. "Go on then." She ordered.

Milliardo's look hardened, but he didn't bring up her rudeness again. "You will be inviting how many people to your party?"

"A little over seven hundred." Relena said.

"And how many security guards?"

"Fifty."

"That's nowhere near enough." Milliardo said bluntly. "The estate is almost a hundred acres. You have to watch the perimeter, the entrance, the building, the roof, not to mention the patio where the party is actually going to be held. They'll be spread too thin to be any good."

"This is a party, not a convention of prisoners." Relena said. "You keep telling me that people are upset by my move away from pacifism. Wouldn't they be more upset if I had an entire garrison of troops at my party?"

"Relena it doesn't work that way." Noin said softly. "The security guards are going to be there to protect everyone. That's all they're going to see."

"No." Relena said. "They will see men with guns, just like what we have been trying to get rid of."

"They're security guards Relena, not actual soldiers. Presumably, the only weapons they have will be tranquilizers."

"Why do I have to worry?" Relena said. "There won't be any problems."

"Relena, you're putting a lot of important people in one place. Especially with the state that things are in now. The war ended less than two years ago, and we've already had a violent uprising. The people aren't happy, and there has already been a threat on you."

Heero turned a shocked look to Milliardo. He hadn't heard anything about a threat, but he figured that not many people probably would. The other four people in the room were probably the only ones that knew about it. Still, any threat should not be taken lightly.

"It's just some prankster." Relena said. "It didn't even sound real to me." She sounded a little less certain than she probably intended to.

Milliardo's eyes darkened, as did Heero's. "Relena, this is a serious matter. You have forty guards around this building on a regular basis."

"No I have forty guards now, since you've become so paranoid. I never had so many before."

Milliardo took a deep calming breath, and Noin put a hand on his arm. "Miss Relena, if forty guards are necessary to protect you, how can fifty protect seven hundred people. Please let us help out with—"

"No."

Heero had had enough of watching. Finally he turned to her, his voice as calm as he could make it. "Miss Relena, you're putting a whole lot of people in danger just to prove a point."

"Wasn't that what the whole war was about?"

Heero narrowed his eyes. "This is not a war, nor are those men going to be soldiers. They are security guards trained specifically to defend—not attack. There will be no violence at your party unless you welcome it. Which is what you're doing right now. Don't you even care that, by being so stubborn, you're putting all of them at risk too?"

"With all due respect, _Heero Yuy_, that's not your business." She snapped at him, before turning to address all of them. "This is my party, I will conduct it how I please."

"Now you're just being contrary." Heero argued. He had no idea what had gotten into Relena, but he wasn't going to take her attitude sitting down.

She gaped at him, before forcing herself to appear calm. The way she pinched her lips together was still quite noticeable, as was the faint flush of her cheeks.

She shot to her feet, and in response, so did Heero, Milliardo, and Noin. "Me?" She glared at Heero and appeared to have forgotten that the other three were in the room. "_Me? I'm_ being contrary? You who come and go as you please and expect everyone to do what _you_ want while you do exactly the opposite of what _they_ want? And _I'm_ being contrary."

Heero could do nothing but stare at her in shock. The other three were visibly shocked as well.

No one said anything for a while, and then Pagan spoke for the first time. "Perhaps we should take a break." He suggested pulling himself to his feet.

"Good idea." Relena said, and she turned and stormed out of the room.

The silence in the room was only broken by Pagan's soft declaration that he would fix some coffee and his quiet footsteps as he shuffled out.

"What was that all about?" Noin asked staring wide-eyed at the door Relena had just disappeared through.

"I don't know." Heero said, barely above a whisper. He continued to stare at the door before turning back to Noin and Milliardo with a shocked look. "She's never talked to me like that before."

"What did you do to get on her bad side?" Milliardo asked. He would have been amused by the situation if the importance of getting Relena to agree with them weren't so dire.

Heero shook his head and sunk back into his chair. "Nothing. I haven't even talked to her since January."

Milliardo looked as perplexed as Heero, but Noin seemed to suddenly understand the situation.

"Oh Heero…" She mumbled as if talking to a child who had just make a mess. "You haven't talked to her at all?"

He shook his head, and shrugged.

"Did you at least send her a card or call her for her birthday?"

He thought for a moment, before shaking his head slowly.

"You didn't even call her on her birthday?"

"That was the same time as the whole dog thing." Heero said running a hand through his hair. "And it's not like we were ever that close? I never went to her birthday parties, and I only got her a birthday present once." He defended. "Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because Heero." Noin sighed. "She likes you. She always has. We were hoping to play off of that to get her to cooperate, but now…the point is, she feels put out, and for good reason. Would it have hurt you to call her once?"

Heero gaped. "Why?"

"Because. Just…just because."

"This doesn't make sense." Heero said. "She's mad because I forgot her birthday?"

"She's mad because she thinks you forgot about _her_. That you don't care." Noin sighed. "Does she know about Audrey?"

Heero felt his defenses go up, and he visibly sat up straighter in his chair. "Huh?"

"Does she know that you're dating Audrey?" Noin clarified.

If Heero had been a dog, his hackles would have been standing on end. He really disliked having people in his personal affairs, but he figured that given the situation, the question at least warranted some sort of answer.

"She knows about…someone." He said. "I never told her a name."

"Well what _did_ you tell her?"

"Umm…." Heero thought back to his last encounter with Relena. Something suddenly jumped out at him. "I said exactly 'with all due respect, Relena Peacecraft, that's not your business.'" He frowned. "I think she might have taken that a little harsher than I wanted."

Noin sighed. "You're going to have to apologize."

Heero jumped a bit at the statement. "Do what?"

"Apologize." Noin pulled out her phone. "And probably go a little farther than that."

"Why should I apologize?" Heero asked, appalled at the idea. "I didn't do anything."

"I know." Noin began to dial a number. "But we'll never get her to agree to anything as long as she's mad at you." She paused a second and listened to the phone.

Heero looked over at Milliardo, who just shrugged to show that he agreed with Noin. Heero slumped a bit in his chair.

"Hi." Noin said suddenly. "Audrey?"

Heero cocked an eyebrow, wondering what Noin was playing at.

Noin cheerfully related their uneventful flight and their impending jetlag, before getting down to business. Milliardo and Heero leaned a bit closer although there was no way that they would be able to hear the other end of the conversation. "Well we've already spoken with Relena….not so good…yeah…well, apparently, she's mad at Heero for never calling her…uh huh…well he didn't send her a birthday present or anything…" Noin smiled at whatever Audrey had said. "That's what I was thinking. So I need you to do me a favor—one that I know from experience that you're capable of. I need you to find the most romantic restaurant in the area and reserve a spot for two….preferably lakefront."

Heero's jaw dropped at the insinuation, but he couldn't find the words to argue.

"Of course he's agreed to it." Noin said, smiling again at Heero. "He knows the importance of playing nice."

Finally, Heero spoke up. "I won't do it." He said. "I don't know what you were planning for me to do—a moonlight dinner and a walk by the sea—but the answer is 'no.'" He spoke a little louder to make sure that Audrey heard him. "Don't make those reservations. I am NOT apologizing just because she is being a brat."

"A brat?" Milliardo said, narrowing his eyes at Heero.

Heero glared right back.

Noin sensed the rising tension in the room and so hurriedly ended her call to Audrey.

"Now boys, we don't need to argue amongst ourselves. Milliardo, you have to admit that Relena is being a little selfish, and Heero can you _please_ be a bit more sensitive?"

Heero hmphed and slouched down. "I'm not doing it. It's ridiculous and…degrading."

Noin rolled her eyes. "Heero you're being just like she is." She patted MIlliardo's arm to keep him from jumping at her stab at Relena. "She's upset, over something personal, and she's allowing it to cloud her judgment and interfere with her work. You are in essence, doing the same thing." She sighed, when Heero's glare darkened. "Une sent us here to get Relena to cooperate with us, and she won't do it if she's still mad at you. If she doesn't cooperate, hundreds of dignitaries will be at risk. So would you please just apologize—pretend, if you must, to be sorry."

He grumbled something and did not budge from his slouch.

"Can't we just send him back?" Milliardo suggested coolly.

"No." Noin said. "Relena already knows that Heero is pushing for this. He needs to apologize."

Milliardo turned a stern look on Heero. "Do it then."

"Wha…?" But before Heero could continue, Pagan walked in with a tray of coffee. Relena came in grudgingly behind him. From the way she was avoiding looking at Pagan, it was obvious that he had been lecturing her.

Relena didn't speak, and the other three waited patiently for her to start a conversation. They had no desire to set her off again. After Pagan had finished passing out the coffee and everyone was settled, Relena spoke. "My position on this affair is still unchanged, but I am willing to listen to your opinions, and may consider constructive suggestions in planning for the party."

Noin, Milliardo, and Heero shared glances before focusing back on Relena.

"May we see the floor plans for the house and patio along with the intended positions of security guards?" Noin suggested for starters.

"I am not in charge of where the security guards are stationed."

"Are you in charge of who the security guards are?" Heero asked.

Relena's face darkened a bit at Heero's entrance into the conversation, but after a second, she answered him. "No, I am not."

"We'll need a list of their names to run through our computers." Milliardo said.

"That is unnecessary." Relena said.

"It's perfectly necessary little sister. There have been too many incidents recently to be overly trusting." He stared calmly at his sister. "I'll have a talk with your head of security—Chris isn't it?—tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we would also like to see the guest list. I will of course have the final say in who is invited, as per our agreement." He gave her an expectant look.

Relena appeared as though she were going to argue, but after a few seconds, she nodded. "You may alter the guest list as you see fit, but you have no authority over my security or anything else about the way I conduct my party." She stated. "Remember that."

"Unfortunately." Milliardo mumbled. "We're only looking out for your best interests, Relena."

She nodded. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss tonight? Precautions against food poisoning perhaps?"

The three Preventers scowled simultaneously. They had all assumed that Relena was finally coming to see things their way. They figured that they should probably stop while they were at least still being civil.

"No." Noin said with a patient smile. "We'll probably go to bed. We had a pretty long flight."

"You're all staying here?" Relena asked with a pointed glance at Heero.

"Of course." Milliardo said. "You do remember that I have as much claim on this house as you do, correct?"

She nodded with a small frown. "Good night then." She said, with as much politeness as she could muster, and then left.

* * *

True to Noin's word, they each headed straight to their rooms. They would discuss things more in the morning, but at the moment, they were all tired. 

Once alone in his room, Heero kicked off his shoes and pulled his jacket off. He flopped backwards on the bed before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He quickly dialed Audrey and waited impatiently for her to pick up.

"Hello." She answered cheerfully after three rings. "How has your trip—"

Heero cut her off. "Don't make those reservations."

"Huh?"

"The restaurant. I'm not doing it."

"But…I…I don't know if I can just _not_ do what Noin tells me to do. It was kind of a direct order."

"I'll apologize…maybe…although she definitely doesn't deserve it."

"Heero, why don't you…oh hold on. Noin's calling me." Heero heard a beep and his line went silent. He rolled his eyes and snapped the phone shut. Opting on taking a quick shower before waiting for Audrey to figure out that he'd hung up on her and call back, he dragged himself off the bed.

Fifteen minutes later, freshly clean and clad in a pair of pajama pants and a muscle shirt, he sat back on the bed and grabbed the phone. Predictably, he had two missed calls from Audrey.

With a small chuckle, he called her back.

"You hung up on me!" She whined as soon as she answered.

"Oops."

She huffed. "Well. Even though you don't deserve it, I told Noin how much you didn't want to do it, and she said that if you have apologized to her by tomorrow night, we can forget about the restaurant."

"Oh…thanks." He said feeling a little guilty about hanging up earlier.

"So she's come around a little." It wasn't a question. Apparently, Noin had filled her in on what had happened already. "It shouldn't be too hard for the three of you to get her to cooperate."

"I don't know." He lied back on the bed and stretched out. "She's pretty stubborn. We would probably do better coming up with a way to change her security plans without her permission, than trying to convince her to do it herself."

"Hmm. Well I can't help you. Sorry."

"I really don't see her coming around." He brooded out loud. "At least not much. She's already set her mind on doing the exact opposite of what we tell her to. We're going to have to come up with a backup plan." He thought for a minute before remembering something. "Have they…have they ever mentioned anything about…a threat?"

She was silent for a moment. "A threat? On Relena?" Another few seconds of silence. "Well there was something once, a few months ago. Relena had gotten an anonymous letter that criticized her new political stance and all that. Noin and Milliardo were pretty worried about it, but Relena burned it before they could send it to the lab to find out who sent it."

"She burned it?" Heero was shocked. "She burned a threat without even trying to see who it could be from?"

"I don't know if it was a threat." Audrey said. "All I said was that they were worried. But…nothing's happened. I don't think she's gotten another one unless she burned it too."

"No, they probably have someone checking her mail before she gets it now." Heero thought out loud. He glanced over at the clock, and groaned. It was eleven o'clock. "Well, I'll call you tomorrow. I've got to get up early to go talk with Relena's chief of security."

"It's only seven."

"Different time zone." Heero said. "Its eleven here."

"Oh…OH! Wait before you go…I bought the paint for the house."

Heero was silent for a few seconds, just allowing the information to process. "Paint…the house?" He vaguely remembered her mentioning something the night before. He supposed he'd agreed without thinking—always a bad idea—but he couldn't remember exactly what he'd agreed to let her do. "The outside? Or the inside?"

"Both."

"Can we really afford that?"

"Mmm…I…hope so."

Her tone worried him a bit. "What do you mean 'you hope so?'" On second thought, he decided to just cut to the chase. "How much did you spend?"

"Spend? Me?" She asked innocently. "On what?"

"You know very well what. How much did you spend?"

She let out a small disgusted gasp and mumbled something about trust, and then said in a small voice. "Around six hundred."

"Six…what the…WHAT THE HELL DID YOU BUY?"

"Paint is expensive!" Audrey defended. "Especially if you want a good weather proof coat for the outside. And then you have to have enough to do a double coat. And you need primer apparently…although I'm not really sure why. And on the inside, we needed trim, and different colors. We also need paint brushes and rollers. And they had this really cool paint sprayer that is supposed to make it really easy. And then if you get the sprayer, you have to get something to cover the windows and trim. Did I mention we needed paint for the trim—"

"I get it." Heero interrupted her, running a hand over his face. "Couldn't you have…consulted me first?"

"…well…I told you I was doing it, and you were busy all day. And I did pay for it all myself…Plus, between the two of us, it is pretty clear that I have more design sense, and I just really didn't want you to argue about the colors I picked before you saw them. But don't worry!" She hurriedly added. "You'll like it!"

Heero wasn't entirely sure that he would, although she had surprised him a few times. Besides, he had replaced the broken siding on the house over a month ago, and had never gotten around to painting it. At least this would save him a little work.

Audrey had been a little nervous about his reaction, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He was still talking to her at least. She decided not to push her luck. "G'night then."

"Night." He said before hanging up. He put the phone on the bedside table and slipped under the covers. Despite being tired, he really couldn't get to sleep.

_It's so cold sleeping alone._

He thought of his and Audrey's cozy little farmhouse. Of Audrey's bright smile and good hot meals. This large estate always seemed to remind him of how much he was not fit for it—for the rich life. He preferred his own house, with the doors that still creaked, and the old broken down barn in the back yard.

He hoped that Relena came around. He really wanted to go home.

* * *

"At least a hundred." 

"Seventy, and that's all I'll go." After three hours of arguing and cajoling, Noin, Milliardo, and Heero—but mostly Noin and Milliardo—had convinced Relena to add more security guards to the plan. The night had done them all a little good in the way of calming them down. Relena was still being stubborn however.

They were now seated in an actual conference room. Relena was at one end of the table, Milliardo on the other. Heero, Noin, Pagan, and Chris—a woman, to Heero's surprise—filled in around the table.

"That's still not enough."

"It's one guard for every ten guests, even that sounds oppressive."

"But they won't all be in the main room or the patio." Heero said. "You'll have some in the parking lot, some guarding the entrance, some checking the halls, some doing surveillance, and some, and least presumably, on the roof. That hardly leaves any to stand watch at the actual party."

Relena frowned, but refrained from arguing.

"So." Milliardo stood and leaned over the plans that had been spread across the table. Heero and Chris stood as well. Milliardo looked at Chris. "You'll have guards stationed here, here, here, and here." He pointed to the entrance to the estate, then to the entrance to the house, and to a few other points around the house and patio.

"Yes." Chris said. Heero was rather good at placing accents, and he guessed the woman to be Spanish.Chris followed Milliardo's gaze. "I want at least four at the entrance. I wanted a full car search, but—"  
"That's a violation of privacy."

"A big enough bomb in someone's trunk could take out the entire house." Milliardo said, ignoring his sister's outburst. "I'll get you a warrant, but it would probably be better if we had eight men doing the car searches."

Chris smiled and scribbled an X and an 8 in the indicated spot. She was finding the older Peacecraft to be much more cooperative than his sister.

"What about these?" Milliado pointed to the entrance to the house.

"We're placing metal detectors there, so we really only need four men at the most."

Milliado nodded.

Heero took a mental note of all that was being decided upon. He was the one who would be answering all of Une's questions after all.

Noin sat at a computer. She had scanned a map of the estate and was relaying the entire meeting to Audrey. There was a small camera and a microphone set next to the computer, that Audrey was watching from. He knew that Noin could also communicate with Audrey, through a small earpiece she wore, and the matching camera that was set up in Audrey's office.

Heero stole a glance at Relena. He wondered which she was madder about: the fact that he had forgotten her for almost a half a year, or the fact that he was not interested in her, romantically speaking of course.

He glanced at Relena again, and happened to catch her eye. She huffed and pressed her lips into a thin line. Heero raised an eyebrow and turned to the camera that Audrey was watching from. He let out an exasperated sigh. Noin laughed at something, but then, seeming utterly embarrassed by the slip, tried to disguise it as a cough.

Heero, likewise, had to hide a smirk.

* * *

They didn't stop negotiations until nearly 9 o'clock that night. Everyone was hungry since they had only braked for lunch. Although she was invited to dine with them, Chris excused herself and headed home. Pagan preferred to eat in his quarters, and left as well. That left Heero, Relena, Noin, and Zechs to have supper together. 

Supper was somewhat tense. Throughout the entire meeting, the Preventers had done everything they could to finagle more security guards into the deal. Relena was for the most part ignored, which did nothing to put her in a better mood. She was determined to have her party under-guarded and, by the end of the meeting, had dropped the number of guards from seventy to sixty.

Even Noin was too tired and frustrated to attempt a polite conversation, so they all just ate in silence.

After nearly a half hour, Noin suddenly stood, breaking the silence. "If you'll excuse us, Miss Relena, Milliardo and I will retire for the night."

Milliardo looked confused for a moment, but Noin passed him a look. Quickly, he snatched the roll from his plate and swept out of the room. Noin gave Heero a similar look, and then left as well.

Heero stared at the door for a few seconds, before the sound of a chair scraping back roused him from his stupor. He snapped his attention to Relena to see that she was preparing to leave. "Goodnight Heero." She said, without even looking at him.

He neither moved nor spoke for a few seconds. He knew what Noin expected him to do. Even though didn't want to apologize, he figured that he needed to. If he didn't, he might have to take Relena to dinner.

"Relena wait!" He called, and stood to follow her.

She had almost made it to the door, but stopped. Without turning around, she waited for him to speak.

He sat for a minute deliberating on what to say. Finally, he decided to be blunt about it. "I don't know what I did—exactly—to make you so mad, but for whatever it was, I…apologize." _There. I said it. Problem solved._

"And that just makes it better." She snapped, finally turning back to look at him.

_Or not._

"It…should." He guessed.

"Well it doesn't." Her hands balled into fists, and she took a few steps closer. "You can't just expect to get off with a simple apology."

He advanced on her, his temper flaring. "And why not? Whatever it was that I might have done, it was a simple offense." Although he realized that he probably wasn't making the situation better, he couldn't stop himself from saying it. "Now I'm apologizing for upsetting you—which in my opinion is more than you deserve. Don't act like it's because I forgot your birthday. That's not it at all. You can't stand the fact that I'm not obsessed with you as you are with me."

"I am not obsessed with you." Relena countered. Her voice was a whisper, and tears were welling in her eyes. "I just expect a little courtesy every now and then."

"Courtesy? You want to talk about courtesy?" His eyes darkened. "Was it courteous of you to start yelling at me just for giving you a suggestion? Or to glare at me every time I look your way?"

Her face had hardened, but he could see that it was about to crack. She sniffed, and trying to keep her voice under control, said. "Good night, Heero." She tried to turn away from him again, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

He prayed that Milliardo wasn't eavesdropping on them, but when after a few seconds, nothing happened, he breathed easy. He led her back to the table and deposited her into a chair.

Rather than looking frightened at her rough handling, she looked stubborn—as if she knew that he would never really hurt her. He knew as well that he wouldn't, but her reaction irritated him.

"That's what's wrong with you." Heero said referring to her demeanor. "Nothing scares you."

"So." She snapped. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"No." He said. "It's not."

"Nothing scares you either."

Heero stared for a moment, trying to decide if her statement was true or not. Sometimes, he scared himself. Audrey's father…panicked—if not scared—him. Audrey scared him sometimes too, but not by what she did—he was afraid that something might happen to her. Just then it hit him that she was home alone, completely defenseless. His hand went toward his pocket to grab his phone, but he forced himself back to the present. She would be fine, he reasoned, trying to push Audrey out of his mind. It was rather difficult, so he settled on pushing her to a back burner for the moment and focused back on Relena.

She was staring at him oddly—as if she had just had some revelation about him. She didn't say anything though, and he, in turn, didn't ask.

Instead, he continued. "Whether or not I am scared of anything isn't the point here. _I_ can take care of myself, whereas _you_ rely on others to look out for you." Sensing her upcoming argument, he put up a hand to stop her. "I'm not criticizing you for that." He said, finally deciding to sit down instead of towering over her. "A lot of people rely on other people to watch out for them. That's part of what makes us human. But," He eyed her. "If those same people who rely on others to protect them go around welcoming trouble and putting themselves in danger, it becomes…well it pisses everyone off."

Relena looked shocked at the statement.

"You get me?" He smirked a bit, realizing that he had successfully steered the conversation away from his faults and onto hers.

She stared at him for a second, as if trying to gauge his sincerity. Then, seemingly satisfied, she nodded.

"So you understand now why we are here."

She nodded again, although rather reluctantly.

He waited for her to apologize for being stubborn, but after a few minutes he realized that he'd just as well be waiting for his supper to apologize. Deciding that he'd at least left her with something to think over, he stood. "Good night, Relena." He said, and left.

The minute he got to his room, he pulled out his phone and called Audrey.

"He—"

"Are you okay?"

Silence. "Uhhh….yeah?...Why?"

"I just realized that I left you all alone at the house."

"Oh." She chuckled. "Well it is a little creepy at night, but nothing I can't handle."

"You sure?"

"Uh huh." She said perkily, but then her voice changed a bit. "Although…"

Heero had been pulling off his shoes, but at the sudden, change, he tensed and sat up straighter. "What?"

"There was a spider. In one of the downstairs bedrooms."

He rolled his eyes and continued to undress. "And?"

"Well I lost a perfectly good pair of shoes to it. It was just too quick. It kept dodging."

Heero snorted, remembering her aim.

"Well anyway I eventually decided that he wasn't causing any trouble, and if he wanted to live in that particular room, he could."

"So you left it there?"

"I locked him in."

Heero reasoned that the spider could probably just crawl under the doorway, but he decided not to bring it up. There was no sense in scaring her. He just shook his head and chuckled.

* * *

Sorry for the long wait, but here it is. 

I'm so grateful for the response I've been getting to this story. Thank you all so much. Reviews are always appreciated.


	24. Party Crasher

Chapter 24- Party Crasher

Heero, Audrey and Une sat in Une's office. The meeting with Relena had ended over two weeks ago, the banquet had been publicly announced, invitations had been sent, and the Preventers were now faced with a rather worrisome problem.

Although Heero, Noin, and Milliardo had succeeded in convincing Relena to up her security to eighty men—still not enough in their opinion—they had not succeeded in convincing her to allow the Preventers to assist with security. Heero, and especially Milliardo, disliked the situation, but neither were going to push it…that is, they wouldn't have, if Relena hadn't received another letter.

_Revert to Pacifism or cancel the party._

That was all it had said. No signature or anything. Just a typed letter. There was no indication of where it had come from, and after sending it to the lab, they had been unable to find any clue whatsoever of who sent it.

Whoever it was, they were good at covering their tracks.

The three now in the room were looking over the maps, plans, list of security guards, and Milliardo's revised guest list. To Heero's chagrin, he had been invited. He supposed he could understand Milliardo's paranoia, and desire to have the best security available, but he just wasn't the type for stuffy banquets.

He had invited the rest of the gundam pilots as well—with orders to bring dates so as not to be suspicious. It was shaping up to be quite the reunion. Heero was almost excited to see everyone again.

The problem, however, was that if they were to come as guests, they would behave as such, and would not be allowed to bring weapons into the estate. Heero agreed with Milliardo that that was one order that they could not obey.

Heero had just finished telling Une this when Audrey spoke. "You really think that someone is going to try to assassinate Relena at her own party?"

"These are…tense times." Une said. "Considering what we've seen recently, we're not counting anything out. Plus this note," She held up the paper. "Is very worrisome."

Audrey didn't respond. She would be accompanying Heero as his date. Her parents were to be there as well. The note itself didn't seem threatening to her, but everyone else's worry was starting to rub off on her.

Une looked at the papers scattered across her desk. "The banquet will not be televised. I don't even think cameras will be allowed." She fixed a stare on Heero. "Relena has still not budged in not allowing you all to bring guns?"

He shook his head, his eyes never leaving the map. Statistics and scenarios were running through his head, and he hardly focused on anything the two women said. "The banquet is going to be inside in the ballroom, but the outside courtyard will also be open. I think she's trying to make it easy for someone to sneak in." He pointed to the map. "Look at this hedge maze. It leads right into the courtyard. All someone would have to do is jump the fence, and they'd have a perfect hiding place. Now no one is being let into the maze, but I still don't like it. She hasn't allowed us enough security guards to patrol it, but she will have a few standing at the edge of it.

Une nodded. "A sniper wouldn't even have to come into the courtyard. He could just shoot through the bush and run off. There's no chance that we can convince her to burn it down?"

Heero shook his head, mumbling. "No. I asked."

Une and Audrey laughed, but Heero pulled himself out of his thoughts long enough to send the two a clueless gaze. Apparently, he'd missed a joke.

"There's no chance that she'll close of the outside?" Une asked, sobering herself.

"'It's going to be a beautiful summer evening.'" Heero quoted sarcastically.

Audrey chuckled. "There's even a pool for if the dignitaries decide to get wild."

They all laughed before getting serious again.

"We're going to have to get guns in there somehow." Heero rubbed his chin in thought.

Une nodded. She had been thinking the same thing for quite a while.

Audrey didn't look so sure. "You can't just strap them to yourself; you'd just get arrested. And then who knows what would happen if people found out that the Preventers—the government agency created especially for keeping peace—was smuggling weapons into banquets."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take given the odds." Une said. "We'll have to try not to get caught, of course, but I do believe that we have enough pull to escape a lawsuit, especially since Relena's brother is going to be one of the people in on it."

Heero hardly listened to their conversation, and changed the subject as soon as they were quiet. "Duo, Trowa, and Quatre are going for sure?"

Une nodded.

"So that's three guns at least. Then one for me, Sally, Milliardo, Noin, Wufei..." He looked over at Audrey and then shook his head quickly. "That's all."

Audrey pouted a bit, and Une had to hide a chuckle.

"I think it would be better if one person brought all of them in. That way if the guards have some really good way of detecting weapons, we won't all get arrested…There's no chance that we could leave them in the house and then go get them later?"

"They'll have guards patrolling the halls and rooms." He recited. "You and Mariemaia aren't going. How are you explaining that? We can't say that we expected a shootout because that would make us look bad."

"Mariemaia will be under the weather."

"That makes sense." Heero leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, instantly forgetting Mariemaia. "We can't hide them anywhere on the estate, so we're just going to have to find a way for someone to smuggle them all in at once when we come in. I know she won't cancel the party, but is there any way that you can…let slip that there was a threat. Less people will go, and then there will be less people to worry about."

"There was nothing threatening in the letter. There is no way I can hold that up as evidence, especially since we have no indication of where it came from."

"A lousy excuse." Heero mumbled.

Une rolled here eyes and started thinking of ways to sneak weapons inside. "Are there going to be guards stationed at the door leading from the house to the courtyard?"

"I'm not sure. It would be a good idea. She'll probably be expecting some of us to try to sneak some in. Especially me and Zechs."

Une nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had someone search to two of you separately."

"Someone else is going to have to do it then." He mumbled, his eyes sliding over to Audrey suggestively.

She pointedly ignored his gaze. After sitting for a few minutes and gazing around the room, Audrey started wondering why the others weren't talking. She looked up at Une to see her grinning at her. "I just got the greatest idea." She looked over at Heero. "It's a way to get weapons in without anyone suspecting anything, and insuring that weapons are the last thing on Relena's mind."

Heero cocked an eyebrow, waiting to hear the wondrous plan.

Une stood and walked around the desk. "First we'll have to make sure that Gregory and Lillian Harper aren't going to be there. They're invited, but we'll have to find some way to keep them out. We don't need a ruckus."

"You can't just keep them out. They're going to be mad." Audrey said.

"I'll deal with them—do a road block or stage a wreck or something."

Heero and Audrey looked at each other curiously, but instead of questioning Une, they waited patiently for her to elaborate.

Une motioned Audrey to stand. "Your gun please." She said to Heero.

He handed it over.

"Believe it or not, I got this idea from some of the ways people smuggle drugs in and out of countries." She laid the gun across Audrey's stomach. "You could fit quite a few guns into a fake belly."

The other two's eyes widened as they started to understand. Heero chuckled a bit, but Audrey remained shocked.

"And if we line it with the right stuff, metal detectors wouldn't be able to penetrate it."

Heero grinned and shook his head in awe.

They both looked to Audrey to see if she would agree. She pouted. "Why me?"

"It has to be believable." Une said. "One of the gundam pilots or Milliardo showing up with a beer gut is going to be pretty suspicious, Relena just saw Noin, and Sally was just in the news a few weeks ago. Relena knows that Heero has a girlfriend, but she's never seen you…at least not recently. There is no way she could know whether or not you're pregnant, and neither will anyone else at the party. Except your parents, but we'll take care of that."

Audrey pouted. "But-"

Heero stepped up to her. "Audrey we need to get these weapons in there. If we don't that puts two hundred dignitaries at risk—including your parents. Please Audrey." He fixed her with a pleading stare. "We need someone we can trust but who is also not well known. You're perfect."

Audrey sighed and dropped her head. "Fine." She grumbled.

Heero smiled and looked over at Une. Une turned and called in one of the technicians to specify how it would be built.

* * *

A few weeks later, Heero, Une, Noin, Milliardo, Sally, Wufei, and Audrey were gathered in the board room. The banquet was in three days, and they were being briefed on what was going on. 

"Many dignitaries were upset by Relena's switch from total pacifism a year ago, and her new policy on routine weapon searches in states' facilities have angered many leaders. There has been some angry talk, and even two direct threats. We have to consider these threats real. Some diplomats have declined their invitations. These are the most vocal of Relena's critics. Relena's lax security for the banquet is doing nothing to reassure us. She's practically inviting someone to fire a shot at her or kidnap her."

Une clicked a button and a map of the house and courtyard where the banquet was being help was displayed on a screen. She quickly pointed out the areas where Relena would have guards stationed. "Our main concerns are snipers. It wouldn't benefit anyone to bomb the place, because all of the dignitaries would be killed. We don't believe that anyone would try to get a shot in from up close either—not that they'd be able to. There will be metal detectors in the front doorway, and no one is going to be allowed in or out of the maze. Relena is not allowing us to bring any weapons into the banquet…"

Everyone groaned.

"…therefore, we are going to sneak some in."

Everyone looked on with interest as Une opened a box and pulled something out. Their interest turned to confusion when they saw what it was.

"_This_ is how we are going to do that."

On the desk was a perfectly crafted belly.

"There's enough room in there to fit eight guns. It also has a voice recorder." Une pointed to the bellybutton. "The outside will block metal detectors."

Everyone leaned in to get a better look.

"Your guns please." Une asked everyone assembled around her. Everyone handed her their guns, and Une slipped them into holsters inside the belly. She zipped it closed and handed it to Audrey. "Try it on."

Everyone watched as she stood and examined it. She didn't move to put it on and looked extremely put off by the idea. "It is going to shoot me when I move?" She asked.

"The inside is bulletproof." Une assured her.

Audrey sighed and stepped into it. She wiggled and pulled it up. Une helped her to position it correctly and then pulled her shirt down over it. Une stepped back smiling at her handiwork.

"I'll be damned." Wufei mumbled.

"It looks real." Une said.

Sally poked it. "It feels real too."

Audrey just pouted. "It's heavy!"

"You're just going to have to get used to it." Heero said. "It looks good though."

She frowned and tried to walk with the extra weight. It turned out as more of a waddle.

"That thing was expensive." Une said. "You can't back out now. You're all we have."

Audrey sighed and nodded.

* * *

They pulled up to the Peacecraft mansion just as it was turning dark. The party had started a few hours before, but they wanted to get there when the party was already in full swing. They passed through metal detectors without incident on the way in, and then headed out into the courtyard. The courtyard was lit with colorful lanterns that gave the banquet a more festive feel. There was a punch table off to one side, and number of other tables for guests to sit at. 

Audrey's feet were killing her already, and her lower back was starting to ache. She headed straight for the tables to sit down. Heero had spotted, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre and walked over to talk to them.

Audrey waited a few minutes before proceeding with the plan that Une had laid out. She pulled herself out of the chair and sidled up to Heero. She smiled sweetly at the three gaping boys before whispering something in Heero's ear.

Heero rolled his eyes and looked at the girl. "Again?"

She shrugged with a guilty smile.

Heero thought for a second. "You go into the room we came in from and there'll be three doors on the right. Go into the first one and then head straight down the hall. The bathroom's the fourth door on the left."

She stared at him as if overloaded by his directions. "Soooo…I go inside and turn…right…?"

"Once you get into the room…argh…I'll take you." He turned to the three other gundam pilots. "Excuse me."

He wrapped an arm around Audrey's waist and steered her off toward the house. The three boys continued to stare in shock.

"How was that?" Audrey whispered once they'd entered the house.

"They believed it, and so did all the old men who were staring at you."

Audrey looked back over her shoulder, and sure enough men were staring at her. She looked a little disturbed.

They reached the bathroom and, looking both ways, both slipped inside. Audrey immediately started pulling the belly off. She sighed in relief savoring the few seconds that she wouldn't have to wear it. It was really heavy.

Heero started pulling guns out and slipping them into the waist of his pants. He ran out of room there and had to put two in his socks. The last two, he slipped into his sleeves.

Audrey reluctantly slipped the belly back on. She was thankful that it was lighter, but the material they had used to make it was still heavier than she would have liked.

Heero examined her to make sure she was adjusted correctly, and then with a nod opened the door.

They both headed back outside to the party. Heero headed straight to Milliardo and Noin who had been standing near Relena since he'd arrived. Heero hadn't talked much to Relena besides a casual greeting. He made it appear as though he was going to talk to her.

Heero politely introduced Audrey to Relena. Relena had noticed that Heero had brought a girl to the party, but she hadn't realized who the girl was at first. Now she recognized her.

"Audrey Harper! You're alive!" Relena was shocked and somewhat dismayed—not at the fact that she was alive, but at her obvious relationship with Heero.

While Relena was distracted, Heero turned to Milliardo and, feigning a handshake slipped him the two guns in his sleeves. Milliardo quickly slipped one gun into the waist of his pants and clandestinely handed the other to Noin. With that accomplished, he turned back to Relena.

Heero chatted for a few minutes with Relena while Audrey looked around for Sally and Wufei. They were with the rest of the gundam pilots standing in a corner by the pool. Besides Dorothy, Hilde, and Catherine—who came as more of a chaperone than a date—no one else was with them.

Milliardo made an excuse to drag Relena away from Heero, and Heero and Audrey went over to the rest of the Preventers and gundam pilots.

"Did you explain?" Heero asked Sally as they approached.

She nodded, and everyone formed a tight circle so no one could see what they were doing.

Duo whistled in awe as Heero started pulling guns out and handing them to the people in the circle. "Man, you're like a walking arsenal. How did you get those in here?"

Heero looked at Sally and Wufei.

"We didn't tell them _everything_." Sally said with a mischievous smile.

Heero scowled at her and just continued to hand out guns. Suddenly, he froze. Trowa, the only one who hadn't gotten a weapon yet, looked at him expectantly.

Heero suddenly felt silly. "The other two are in my socks." Heero explained, casting a glance downward. "I don't know how to get them out without being noticed."

Everyone looked at each other nervously, wondering what to do.

Suddenly, Duo skipped forward. "I do." He knelt down and shoved his ear to Audrey's belly. Heero pushed him back, but those few moments were all the time he needed. Duo had snatched the guns from Heero's socks and slipped them up his sleeves.

Everyone chuckled as Duo handed Heero and Trowa their guns.

After they were all armed, they fanned out to scout the area. Hilde, Dorothy, and Catherine headed over to get some punch, and Audrey stayed standing by the pool since she didn't feel like walking much.

* * *

Relena had finally caught Audrey alone. She had been waiting to talk to her since she'd seen her arrive with Heero. She'd been absolutely heartbroken to see that Audrey looked about eight months pregnant and that Heero was obviously the baby's father. She determined to be polite...kind of. 

Most of the people at the party were dancing or talking. Relena had finally slipped away from all of the old men who wanted to talk politics, the younger men who wanted to dance, and her brother who hadn't left her alone since he'd arrived.

Audrey was standing near the pool looking absentmindedly into the water. Heero had hardly left her side all night, but he didn't seem to be by her at the moment.

"Audrey." Relena said in way of a greeting; they hadn't talked at much in their earlier encounter. Relena had been too shocked, and Audrey had seemed distracted. "It's been a while."

Audrey smiled. "Yeah. I haven't seen you since…" She thought for a minute. "Wow! Has it been two years already?"

Relena nodded and forced a smile. "So you're looking good I see."

Audrey shrugged and looked at the pool. She was a pretty bad liar, so she decided not to respond. She would later thank herself for looking at the pool, because it was that action that alerted her to the danger that she and Relena were in.

She froze when something caught her eye. There was a reflection of light glinting off of something in the maze. Whatever it was, it was moving slowly.

Moving as little as possible, her gaze slowly traveled from the reflection of the bushes to the actual bushes themselves. What she saw there only confirmed her suspicions.

She gasped and turned to Relena, who had followed her gaze out of curiosity and was still staring at the maze. A look of realization crossed the other girl's face briefly before it melted into panic.

Audrey was by no means well versed in survival techniques or combat, so she did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed a suddenly screaming Relena and dived into the pool just as gunfire exploded from the bush. Through her panick, she could register a sharp pain in her side, but her main concern was keeping herself afloat.

It was proving to be quite difficult. Despite the fact that she was a rather good swimmer, the added weight of the belly and Relena, not to mention the way her legs were tangled in her dress, made it near impossible to not go under. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't seem to bring herself back to the surface. She could vaguely hear more gunshots, and screams but they were getting further and further away. She struggled and squirmed, but Relena was pushing her down in her own attempt to swim. She felt herself sinking farther and farther, and couldn't seem to make it to the surface. Her lungs burned with the lack of air, and she watched as the water slowly grew darker. Then it turned black altogether.

* * *

Figures the second Relena slips away unprotected, would be the second she was attacked. Heero was furious with himself for being inattentive for that one second. 

All of the other gundam pilots and Preventers were cursing themselves as well. They had only just started to scan around, when the attack happened. Relena had told Milliardo that she needed to go to the bathroom, and while he had gone to scout around the house, Relena had slipped off the other way. The gunman had obviously noticed Relena's lack of protection, and from his position in the maze, had had a clear shot and a perfect opportunity.

The moment gunfire had sounded, all the guests panicked. They started running to and fro. Some dived under tables. Some ran toward the house. The area turned into a commotion complete with screams, gunshots, and shattering glass.

The Preventers and security guards were much more composed than the rest. They quickly found the source of the gunshots and fired at the bushes. By the time they were finished, there was a huge hole in the maze and a body riddled with over twenty bullet holes.

Heero and Milliardo ran toward the pool and both dived in. Wufei and a good number of security guards ran toward the body to make sure that there wasn't anyone else lurking about. Noin, and the gundam pilots' dates, assisted in checking the remaining guests for injuries. Duo, Trowa, and Quatre stood around the pool, guns at the ready, waiting for any more trouble.

Relena was uninjured but frantically clawing her way toward the edge of the pool. She had panicked the moment she had heard shots as well. She had never been a strong swimmer, and when they fell into the pool, her feet became tangled in her dress and she grabbed onto the only thing nearby to keep herself afloat. That thing had happened to be Audrey.

Milliardo grabbed Relena and waded toward the edge. He pulled her out of the pool and started inspecting her. She wasn't hurt, only scared.

Heero swam down to the bottom of the pool where Audrey had sunk. He was panic-stricken inside, but his soldier instincts kicked in and he worked to pull her out of the water. He reached the edge of the pool, and instantly, Duo and Trowa pulled her out and laid her on the cement.

Heero jumped out of the pool and knelt down on the side of her. She wasn't breathing. He checked for a pulse and was relieved to find that there was one—although faint.

Those who didn't know the details of the Preventers' plan to get weapons into the banquet looked on confusedly as Sally reached up Audrey's dress and started tugging the belly off.

Heero ripped her dress open and started checking for bullet wounds. Nothing had penetrated the skin thanks to the thin lining of bulletproof material, but there were the beginnings of two ugly bruises forming on her side. Heero was fairly certain that one of her ribs had a small fracture. He determined to try to avoid that one, and started doing CPR on her.

The three other gundam pilots watched silently. They were soon encircled by a small crowd of onlookers. Everyone watched in silence as Heero tried to get her to breathe.

Sally was checking her pulse and was looking more worried by the second.

"Shit!" Heero hissed pumping on Audrey's chest. "Breathe Audrey!" He pressed his mouth to hers for the fourth time with no response.

"Breathe!" He started pumping again. He breathed into her mouth for the fifth time. Sally nearly jumped, when she felt a sudden spike in Audrey's pulse and Audrey started choking up water.

Heero helped her to sit up so that she could breathe more easily. She leaned against his chest choking. Heero clutched her closely to him and petted her hair. "It's okay." He whispered more to himself than to her. "You're okay. I've got you."

She was still quite disoriented. Her vision was blurred, her head was pounding, and her lungs seemed to ache. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there, but then it all came back to her. The terror of being dragged underwater, and clawing frantically to the surface. The feeling of sudden weightlessness as she faded away.

She gasped into Heero's shirt at the sudden terror. She felt hot tears streaming down her face, and she was suddenly overcome by sobs. She couldn't seem to stop them.

When she was sure that Audrey was okay, Sally started shouting orders. "Someone call an ambulance. Are there any other injuries? Who's checking the perimeter?" She grabbed the discarded belly, opened it, and pulled out a tiny microphone. "Une, you can tell the Harpers to meet us at the hospital. Keep your explanation vague if you can."

Everyone hurried off to do as they were told. Milliardo took Relena upstairs so that she could dry off. She had insisted that she was fine and that she did not need to go to the hospital. Although it was against his better judgement, he had decided to let her have her way. She was already shaken up enough.

Heero stayed with Audrey while they waited for the ambulance. She was still somewhat 'out of it' from her near death experience, and she was shivering from being wet in the chilly night air. Heero pulled off his jacket and was about to give it to her when he realized it was wet.

"Here." Heero looked up to see Quatre handing him his jacket.

"Thanks." Heero said and wrapped it around Audrey. Audrey pulled her face out of Heero's chest and looked with blurry eyes to Quatre.

"Thank you." She mouthed, since she couldn't find her voice.

Quatre smiled reassuringly and looked to Heero. "This too." Quatre handed Heero his gun as well. Heero vaguely recalled throwing it on the ground before he dived in the pool.

Despite her insistence that she could walk, Heero scooped Audrey up and carried her to the front to wait for the ambulance.

* * *

A half hour later, Heero was sitting in the waiting room dressed in paper clothing. He had still been soaking wet when he'd arrived at the hospital and so the doctors had given him something dry to wear.

Heero jumped in surprise as Gregory and Lillian Harper stormed into the waiting room.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Gregory yelled.

Lillian was frantic and near tears.

Heero stood and raised his arms in defense. "She's fine." He assured them. He hated these odd encounters with her parents. They only saw each other at the worst of times.

"I asked you what happened boy! Answer me!"

Heero was taken aback by the man's rage, but he quickly recovered. "We were at Relena Peacecraft's banquet. There was an assassin. Audrey was hit with a few stray bullets—"

Lillian gasped and burst into tears and Gregory looked terrified.

Heero hurried to clarify. "She was wearing a bulletproof vest so it's probably nothing more than a few bruised ribs. She fell into the pool and almost drowned. We had to do CPR, but other than that, she should be fine."

Gregory glared. "Injuries like that do not constitute being 'fine!'" He hissed while trying to soothe his wife. "She's nothing more than a girl. She shouldn't be around that sort of thing."

Heero didn't have an answer to that, but was saved by the doctor coming in. "Mr. and Mrs. Harper." He addressed them. "Your daughter will be fine. There is no permanent damage. Only a few bruised ribs and one fracture. She should be completely healed in a few weeks. You can take her home tonight if you like."

The doctor told them Audrey's room number and the two hurried down the hall. Heero grabbed his wet clothes and followed at a much slower pace.

He was almost to the room when he heard someone call his name. He turned to see the Duo, Sally, and Hilde behind him.

"What are you all doing here?" He asked as they came up to him.

"We thought we'd come check on you two before we headed back to the hotel. How is she?" Sally asked.

Heero shrugged. "One fractured rib, a lot of bruising. She'll be fine."

"That's good."

"He-Man what are you wearing?" Duo asked.

Heero looked down. "Scrubs…?" He said with a grimace. "The staff didn't want me getting everything wet."

"Can we see her?" Sally asked.

"Uhh…Her parents are in there. And they are not happy." Then, as an afterthought. "Her dad chewed me out a few minutes ago, so I think I'll wait out here a while."

"That bad huh?" Duo asked.

"He's never liked me." Heero stated. "I think he was just starting to warm up to me, but…not anymore. I'm pretty sure he hates me again."

The other three laughed, and Heero scowled at them.

"Maybe I should go talk to them." Sally said and walked into the room.

Heero sent her a 'good luck' look and leaned against the wall beside the door.

The others gathered around the door to try to hear what happened.

"Hello. My name is Sally Po." Sally extended her hand to each parent in turn. "I'm with the Preventers."

"Really." Gregory said. "Are you responsible for my little girl being here?"

"Daddy please." Audrey pleaded in frustration. "They had nothing to do with that."

"Of course they had something to do with it." He turned back to Sally. "You put her in danger."

"And they kept _you_ out of it!" Audrey defended.

Gregory and Lillian both turned confused stares on Audrey.

"What are you talking about dear?" Lillian asked.

Audrey shifted uncomfortably and cast a glance to Sally. "They set up a road block to keep you away from the banquet."

"Why? Why just us?"

"It's a long and complicated story, but to keep it simple, they knew that there would probably be trouble. You should be thankful that they kept you away from there."

"Well that just makes it all okay doesn't it?" Gregory said sarcastically. "If they knew there was danger, why did they put you in the middle of it?"

"They didn't make me do anything dad. They asked me, and I agreed. You're blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. And if you keep yelling at everyone, the next time something happens to me, I'm not going to tell you about it."

Her parents both looked at her and tried to calm themselves down. "Audrey…" Her father started, straining to keep his voice at a normal volume. "You…"

Audrey interrupted him. "I understand where you're coming from. You're both worried about my safety, but trust me, it's not that bad. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If it had been normal circumstances, I would have never been there. Okay?" She eyed both of her parents. "So let's all just calm down and stop blaming people. Because the person who is really responsible for this horrible injury, which is actually hardly a bruise, is probably on his way to a morgue right now."

Gregory turned to Sally. "What exactly happened. That punk out there wouldn't give me a straight answer."

Sally sighed. "Some of that is classified, sir." She said calmly. "But I can tell you that if your daughter hadn't been there Relena Peacecraft would probably be dead. It could have been a lot worse than what it is, and I think we should all be thankful that it wasn't."

Gregory glared at her for not giving him the answer he wanted.

"Just let it go dad." Audrey said. "Everything's okay. It won't happen again. There's no use in you getting all upset."

Her father sighed, and her mother started petting Audrey's hair.

"Would you like to come home with us dear?" Lillian asked.

Audrey shook her head. "Nah. I'll be okay. I'm going home in a few weeks anyway."

"Do you want us to stay with you at the hospital tonight?"

"No. I'm going back to the hotel."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay just in case?"

"Positive." Audrey said. "This room service isn't as good as the hotel's."

* * *

They didn't get back to the hotel until almost three in the morning. It had taken nearly an hour to persuade Gregory and Lillian Harper that Audrey would be okay without them. Then they were faced with the predicament of Audrey needing clothes. Heero had ended up having to change back into his wet clothes and give Audrey the scrubs. The ride back to the hotel took twenty minutes.

A half hour later, they were both showered and in bed.

Heero was just drifting off when he felt the bed shift. He sat up to find Audrey sitting on the side of his bed. She was crying.

Without a word, he shifted over and pushed the covers back.

She accepted the invitation, and slid in beside him. Heero gently wrapped an arm around her waist being careful to avoid her injury. She buried her face in his chest still shivering and sniffling. Heero rubbed her back and murmured reassurances to her over and over until she fell asleep.

As he drifted off to sleep, Heero idly wondered how long he would be able to sleep before someone—most likely Duo—came to wake him up. Deciding that whoever woke him up in the morning would be in for quite a beating, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Yay! Another chappie! Thank's so much to all my reviewers. You guys are great!


	25. When in Rome

Chapter 25- When in Rome

Heero awoke to a light knocking on his door. He groaned slightly and looked over at the clock. It was hardly 9 o'clock.

Neither of them had slept well, both visited frequently by dreams that detailed the events earlier that night.

Heero couldn't vouch for Audrey's dreams although several times he'd awoken to find her shivering with silent tears. His own dreams had been horrifying. Each time, something different happened, something worse than reality. In many, the gunman had aimed higher, giving her a gruesome, if instant, death. He didn't know if he would ever get that image out of his head. In another dream, he had been too late to save her from drowning. By the time he had pulled her out of the pool, she was already dead.

Several times he had jolted awake in a cold sweat by such nightmares.

It had taken him a while each time to assure himself that Audrey was in fact alive, and that she wasn't just another dream. He was afraid to wake up and find that his dream had in fact been reality, and that Audrey would suddenly disappear.

Forgetting why he had woken up in the first place, he stretched out a bit, noticing that Audrey was still cuddled close into his chest. He rolled onto his side and buried his face into her hair intending to go back to sleep.

The knock sounded again, louder this time.

Heero's eye twitched, and he looked curiously toward the door. With a low groan, he disentangled himself from Audrey and his bed and trudged toward the door. He swung it open grumpily to be assaulted by the bright light of the hallway. He raised a hand to shield his eyes, and caught a glimpse of an embarrassed looking Trowa.

"I'm sorry." He said obviously noting that Heero had been sleeping. Heero had no idea what he'd expected, but didn't have time to contemplate it as Trowa started explaining his presence. "Everyone's downstairs for breakfast. We were wondering if you two would join us.

Heero's only answer was a pained blink.

"It's free." Trowa said hoping that it would sway Heero some. "But they stop serving in less than an hour."

Heero shook his head and rubbed a hand across his face. "We'll see you all later." He said stepping back into his room. "I'm going back to sleep."

Trowa looked a little disappointed, but just gave him a sympathetic smile.

Heero shut the door quietly and slid back into bed. Audrey moaned a bit in complaint as she was bounced around. She blinked her eyes open and looked at him groggily.

"Go back to sleep." Heero said wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.

She obeyed instantly.

Heero smiled a bit and placed a light kiss on the top of her head. He buried his face in her hair, and tightened his hold on her as if to ensure that she wouldn't go anywhere. Then, fell back asleep himself.

Seemingly only a second later, he was jolted awake again by a loud banging on the door. Growling, this time, he disentangled himself from Audrey and the covers and stormed to the door.

He was greeted with the sight of Duo shoving a donut into his mouth.

"Heero, you weren't sleeping were you?" Duo asked around the donut, although his sly look told that he obviously knew the answer.

Heero glared tiredly.

"You look rough. What time did you get back last night?"

Heero blinked and shrugged. "What do you want?"

Duo seemed to suddenly remember his purpose for being there. "Dude! The free breakfast ends in a half an hour! You have to come down and get some."

Heero squinted at him and then turned back to his room. "'m not hu'gry." He yawned. He pushed the door closed and started heading back to his bed.

At the last second Duo's hand appeared in the doorway. The door opened again slowly, making a creepy creaky noise.

Audrey squirmed, rousing a bit at the noise, and Heero simply turned irately back to the pest.

Duo was standing, silhouetted in the doorway, legs spread, and shoulders hunched a bit. His head was bowed, and he stared at Heero through his bangs.

Heero was a little creeped out.

"Heero." Duo whispered. "I'm not going to let you do this."

"Duo get out."

"No man." His voice got a little louder.

Heero saw Audrey squirm again out of the corner of his eye. He shushed Duo.

Duo didn't take the hint. "He-man, you do not stay at a hotel with free breakfast and not eat the free breakfast. You just don't. Think about it. All you can eat at absolutely no cost. And it all ends in…" He looked at his watch. "twenty-eight minutes. Are you willing to miss out on a chance like this?"

Heero stared at him. "Duo." He said softly, as if touched. Then his voice turned harsh. "Get out!"

"No." Duo crossed his arms and took a step into Heero's room. Until then, he hadn't been able to see Audrey. Now he could. He looked stunned for a second, and then he slowly turned his eyes to Heero. He grinned widely. "Ohhhhh. Now I see."

Heero scowled and advanced on Duo. "Go away." He grabbed Duo's arm and started pushing him out the door.

Duo latched on to both sides of the doorway. He decided to switch tactics. "C'mon Heero! Everybody's downstairs. You have to come down. Think of how much it would mean to…to…Quatre. You know he gets sentimental about things like this."

Heero stared for a second, before he heard a small noise behind him. Both he and Duo looked back into the room to see Audrey half sitting up, staring at them tiredly. "What's going on?" She asked hoarsely.

"Mornin' babe!" Duo said happily. "I was just trying to convince Heero here to go get some breakfast."

Heero glared at him.

"It's the free breakfast right?" Audrey asked rubbing her eyes.

Duo nodded.

"I'll go with you." She scooted to the edge of the bed.

Duo grinned devilishly at Heero. Heero responded with one final shove, and slammed the door in his face. He turned to Audrey. "You're really going?"

She nodded and stood tiredly. "Free food." She said, as if that explained everything. She brought her hands above her head and stretched, and then winced at the reminder of her dance with death the day before. "Are you coming?"

Heero stared at her for a second before nodding with a sigh.

Audrey slipped on her shoes and pulled a sweatshirt over her tank top before heading toward the bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth and pulled her hair up before heading back out.

"You're going dressed like that?" Heero asked, after getting himself a little more presentable.

Audrey nodded to him before pulling the door open. "It's in the hotel. I'm just eating and going back to bed. It's way too early."

Heero just slipped on his shoes and followed her. He was met with the sight of a proudly smirking Duo when he stepped into the hall. He just ignored him and followed Audrey toward the elevator.

When they got downstairs, they found that everyone actually _was_ there. They had pushed a few tables together and were pretty much hogging all the food.

Duo nearly skipped back to his seat, and immediately started inhaling whatever food was in reach.

Heero and Audrey trudged to the only two empty chairs at the table. They were making no effort to hide the fact that they had just woken up.

"Good morning." Quatre greeted them as they both plopped into the chairs across from him and Dorothy. "We were wondering if you two would show." He turned to Audrey. "It's good to see you're okay. We were worried."

She looked a little surprised by the idea, but then smiled at him.

Dorothy leaned a little over the table. "I remember you." She announced. "From the Peacecraft Academy."

Audrey nodded. "Yeah I went there for a while." She grabbed a pancake and pulled it into her plate. "I remember you too." She smirked a bit. "Everyone was in a fuss because of your connections with Romefeller." She looked over at Quatre. "And I also distinctly remember everyone being amazed by some boy students."

Quatre blushed at being caught and chuckled a bit.

Hilde leaned across Duo to talk to the four at the end of the table. "There's a strip mall a little ways down the road. We were thinking of going check it out."

"Sounds fun." Dorothy said. "When are we going?"

"Right after breakfast."

"Isn't it…early?" Heero complained.

"Nonsense." Sally said leaning over as well. "It's vacation. It's never too early."

Heero looked over at Audrey. She gave him a sheepish smile to tell him wordlessly that they'd just as well go. He slumped a bit and picked at his food with a pout. So much for going back to sleep.

* * *

An hour later, ten teenagers were walking boisterously down the sidewalk at the strip mall.

Duo and Sally were jokingly trying to convince Wufei to get a tattoo. Trowa and Quatre were quietly sipping on lemonades and occasionally chatting to catch up with each other. Heero was trudging tiredly along beside them, not really adding to anything they said. Dorothy, Hilde, Audrey, and Catherine were chattering loudly and pointing to all the different shops.

"We should really find some rafts or something." Hilde said looking around to try to find some sort of pool shop.

"Yeah." Dorothy added, joining the search. "And a beach ball."

"We're going to the pool?" Audrey asked, stopping for a second.

The other three girls stopped and stared at her for a second before seemingly comprehending her hesitation. The rest of group had stopped a few yards away from them.

"We'll catch up with you all later." Dorothy said, grabbing Audrey's arm and steering her toward a nearby café. The other two girls followed them.

They all slid into a booth near the window.

"Would you rather if we found something else to do?" Catherine asked, sensitive as usual. "Instead of going to the pool, I mean."  
"No. It's okay…" Audrey said.

"We can, you know." Hilde said.

"The guys can't stand up to our feminine wiles long." Dorothy added.

"Because we know that it's really soon after…well you know…" Catherine waved her hands around a bit. "And I'm sure that it was scary."

"Oh." Audrey said, realizing their concern. "Well yeah. I was worried about that too I guess. Well I wasn't actually going to get in the pool." Her stomach churned nervously at the very idea. "But I was mainly worried about my bathing suit." Audrey said shyly. "You see I brought a bikini, but I…uhhh…I have this really ugly bruise…and…"

"Oh." The other three giggled.

"We can fix that." Dorothy said standing up and waving the waiter away. "I'm sure there's a shop with bathing suits around here somewhere. We'll just get you a new one."

* * *

It was another one of those times that Heero was hard-put to remember how he had gotten himself in the situation he was in.

And what an odd situation it was. He had bought some kind of sugary ice something—a snow cone perhaps?—on their trip to the strip mall, and that had given him a little more energy.

At the moment, he was sitting on Duo's shoulders, beating Wufei, who was on Trowa's shoulders, with a pool noodle.

It had taken a while for the rest of the group to find the girls again, after they had gotten separated at the strip mall. When they did, though, they had found them in a pool shop.

It had been Duo's idea—of course—to buy the noodles. Heero hadn't seen much use for them at the time, but now that he did, he had to admit that Duo was quite creative…and maybe a little odd, but he wasn't one to judge.

Heero was sure that he was quite the sight, but the big gang of teenagers had already run off all the other guests, so it didn't really matter.

Suddenly Wufei's noodle whacked him hard in the face, and he fell backwards. Duo fell with him since he had tried to keep Heero on his shoulders by keeping a firm grip on his legs. The two tangled boys writhed a bit before surfacing, both coughing and sputtering.

Heero flopped his hair out of his face before glaring up at Wufei. Wufei just smirked at him and held his noodle up victoriously so that Quatre could snap a picture. Trowa chuckled in a mix of amusement and apology.

Heero and Duo looked at each other, and in unspoken agreement, both lunged for the other two boys. Suddenly the pool was full of splashes, and shouts, as the four boys wrestled good naturedly. Dorothy and Catherine gave up on tanning on a raft and joined Hilde, Sally, and Audrey in the beach chairs. Quatre sat on the edge of the pool snapping pictures every time someone surfaced in a headlock or got thrown bodily across the pool.

He laughed at the other boys' antics before all four of the other gundam pilots stopped and stared at him.

Suddenly feeling quite vulnerable, Quatre sat his camera down and tried beat a hasty retreat. It was no good, however, because before he could even pull his feet out of the water, the four boys were standing behind him. Duo and Wufei grabbed each an arm and tugged him up.

Quatre started trying to protest, but they all ignored him.

Trowa and Heero grabbed his legs hoisted them up as Dorothy idled over to grab the camera. The four boys swung and wiggling Quatre back and forth a few times before letting go and allowing him to fly in to the pool.

Quatre tumbled about a bit in the water before finding which way was up. He pulled his head out of the water just in time to be splashed by four others who had jumped back into the pool.

While the boys splashed around, the five girls lazed about on beach chairs, talking and reading.

Although Audrey had done her best to keep as much distance from the actual water as possible, Heero was relieved that she had at least come out. He was glad that she wasn't suddenly scared of pools.

It was getting close to lunch, so the girls were trying to decide if they would go to a restaurant to eat, or just bring some pizza by the pool.

"The sign says that no food is allowed." Catherine reminded them all.

"It also says that no drinks are allowed, and there's a tiki bar right there." Dorothy pointed.

Audrey looked over at the tiki bar. The man behind the counter was sitting there boredly. He had no customers because none of the people at the pool were old enough to buy alcohol. Sally came close, but she wouldn't turn 21 for a few months. Audrey and Dorothy had walked over earlier to see if the tiki man would make an exception. Neither had really drunk much before, but they figured that it was vacation and they deserved it. Audrey especially wanted something to calm her nerves. She knew that she was in no danger near the pool, but she was still a little nervous.

The tiki man had denied them, of course, when they hadn't been able to prove that they were of age.

Audrey looked back down at her book, which she had only halfway been reading. She always liked to sit in the sun and read, but it was difficult to do it with so many people around. Finally giving up, she dropped the book back into her bag.

It was at that moment that her phone rang. She grabbed it and, noticing that it was Noin, started nervously wondering if there was news on the assassin. "Hello? Noin?"

The other girls went quiet, knowing that if Noin was calling it might be something serious. Audrey didn't really notice. The boys did however, and slowly waded over to the side of the pool to listen in.

"Audrey." Noin said cheerfully from the other end of the line. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm alright."

"That's good." She said and then hesitated. "I can't discuss anything over the phone, but we need to see you and the rest of the Preventers as soon as possible."

"Oh okay." Audrey said, looking over at Sally and suddenly noticing that everyone was staring at her. "Like, you mean, now?"

"Yes we're at the hotel."

"Our hotel?"

"Of course. We're outside your room in fact. I guess it's safe to assume that no one is there. Are you all together?"

"Yeah, but—"

Noin interrupted her. "How soon can you be back here?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you. We're at the pool."

There was silence for a moment. "Oh." Noin said sounding surprised. She refrained from asking any questions however. "Well, we'll come and meet you then."

"Uh. Okay." Audrey said, and then they both hung up.

"What's going on?" Dorothy asked, voicing everyone's question.

Audrey stared at them all wondering if she should actually say anything since there were a few who were not actually Preventers. Finally, she decided to keep it short. "Noin is coming. They've got some information apparently, but she wouldn't tell me over the phone."

There were multiple splashes as the boys all pulled themselves out of the pool and started searching for towels. The girls all started packing their things as well.

"How long until they get here?" Sally asked.

Audrey glanced toward the hotel doors just as Noin, Milliardo, and Relena stepped out. "Well uhh…they _are_ here." She pointed to them.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the three people approaching them. Rather they stared at one in particular. Although it was somewhat surprising that Noin and Milliardo had arrived so soon, it was even more surprising that they had brought Relena with them.

Noin waved cheerfully and immediately headed over. The other two followed. Relena looked about as anxious around the pool as Audrey had been, so she made sure to keep Milliardo between the pool and herself.

"Sorry to spoil your fun," Noin said, sounding genuinely sorry. "but there have been some developments that couldn't really wait. This is a business trip after all."

Everyone nodded and mumbled to each other.

"As soon as you're all decent," Milliardo said scanning the five gundam pilots with mocking disapproval. "we can get down to business."

"Are we going to be allowed into the meeting?" Dorothy asked.

Noin and Milliardo frowned to each other. "All the information is confidential." Noin finally said. "But since you'll probably find out anyway," She eyed Duo for his talkativeness and inability to lie, and Quatre for his inability to anger Dorothy. "I suppose you can come."

The three non-Preventers smiled, even though Milliardo looked like he might argue.

"Come along then." Noin said before he could say anything. She turned and started leading everyone back into the hotel.

As everyone morosely headed back inside, Relena asked Audrey to stay back with her.

Heero was almost to the door when he noticed that the two weren't following them inside. He stopped and looked a little nervously back at them. Audrey motioned for him to go ahead inside. He cast them one more suspicious glance before going in.

When Relena was sure that they were alone, she turned to Audrey. "I…" She paused, seemingly trying to think of what to say. After a second, she started again. "I just wanted to thank you…for last night. And…and to apologize…"

Audrey smiled at her. She had never really been all that fond of Relena, but she couldn't think of too many reasons to dislike her—besides the fact that her naiveté often got others into trouble, and she could be a little spoiled. "Don't worry about it." She said.

"No." Relena said fiercely. "It was my fault that you were hurt."

"We all make mistakes." Audrey said. "Apologies really only work as long as you try not to repeat the mistakes."

Relena stared for a second, not really sure what to make of the statement. Finally she smiled a bit. "We'll I suppose it's the least I can do."

Audrey chuckled a bit, but was cut short by Milliardo storming out of the hotel. "What are you doing out here alone?" He asked Relena, completely ignoring Audrey. "I could kill Yuy. Haven't you learned anything? After last night? Do you want a repeat? Don't go anywhere without myself or another Preventer with you."

Audrey wondered for a second if she had suddenly turned invisible, but she decided not to comment on Milliardo's rudeness.

Relena looked extremely put off by Milliardo's comments, however, and jumped to defend herself. "She was with me." She said pointing at Audrey. "She's a Preventer."

Milliardo looked at Audrey as if he had indeed just noticed her. He glanced disbelievingly at Relena before regarding Audrey with a wry look. "Her? I meant a capable Prevneter."

Audrey had the dignity to look offended, but didn't contradict him. She knew what he meant.

Milliardo wouldn't leave well enough alone, however. "She can't even shoot a gun. Word has it," He smirked in Audrey's direction. "she shot Yuy a few months ago."

Relena gasped and looked shocked at Audrey as if seeing her in a new light.

Audrey tried to look innocent, but she couldn't wipe the betrayed look from her face. Before she could clarify anything, Relena had turned and ran back toward the hotel.

Audrey she stared in shock at the hotel door for a moment before turning to Milliardo and slapping his arm. Although it hurt her hand more than his arm, she had at least gotten his attention. "I can't believe you!" She fumed. "I'll never live that down if you keep bringing it up. And! And! You don't have room to be so mean to me, when all I've ever done is be nice to you."

Milliardo looked a little guilty. He glanced back at the hotel and, assuming that Relena would go straight to Heero, allowed himself to turn calmly back to Audrey.

She looked more angry than he had ever seen her, although it was still more pouting than anger. "And maybe I can't shoot a gun or do all that other…punching and stuff, but…But!..." She trailed off, apparently unsure of any personal redeeming qualities. "See if I ever do anything nice for you again." She turned and started stomping off

Milliardo stared for a second before running after her and pulling her to a stop. "I…I didn't mean it like that." He said. "Of course I appreciate you saving Relena last night. I still meant what I said, though, about her not being alone without someone to _protect_ her."

"I did an okay job." Audrey mumbled.

"Without injuring _themselves_." He clarified.

She scowled, knowing that he had a point.

"I really am grateful by the way. Of all the people there last night, you were the last person I expected to keep my sister safe. But you did, and for that I thank you." He stared down at her. "I have a feeling though, that right now my gratitude may not be appreciated. So…" He looked around, and his eyes landed on the tiki bar. "I could…buy you a drink…?" And perhaps get one for himself as well.

She looked up at him, shocked.

"You did buy me one a while back." He said, trying to make up for his kindness. "And even though I have yet to forgive you for that horrible pink room and probably never will," She reluctantly laughed. "I did enjoy the champagne." He looked decidedly uncomfortable, but whether it was his brush with sentimentality or with the prospect buying alcohol for a minor, she couldn't tell.

"Something light and summery." She said after a few seconds, showing that she accepted his kind-of-apology. "There was some kind of tequila or something…that sounds nice."

* * *

They arrived at upstairs a few minutes later, Audrey with a pink fruity drink in hand, and Milliardo a bottle of something stronger. Milliardo apparently knew that they were to be meeting in Sally and Wufei's room and so he headed there while Audrey went to change.

A few minutes later, she quickly scurried into the meeting room. She stopped short, however, by the amount of awkward stares she received.

"Wha…?" She looked around. Milliardo, Wufei, and Sally looked amused. Heero looked frustrated. Noin looked nervous. Everyone else was staring at her with either accusation or curiosity.

Heero rolled his eyes and motioned her to come sit by him. "Ignore them." He said to her. "Can we get to the reason that you all came?"

"Yes!" Noin said quickly, seemingly relieved that he had suggested it.

Audrey walked over to sit beside Heero on the bed. She was nervously aware that everyone in the room was staring at her. "What's going on?" She whispered.

He sighed and shook his head lightly. "Apparently someone told Relena that you shot me." He whispered.

Apparently, he wasn't quiet enough, because a second later, Relena spoke. "Did you?"

Audrey blanched. She looked to Heero for help, but he was busy glaring at Relena. She looked around the room to see that everyone was still staring at her as they had been when she'd come in.

"Did you do it?" Relena demanded again. "Why would you shoot him?"

Audrey sunk a little bit as if to shield herself from the accusing glares and clutched her drink tightly. "It was an accident."

"How can you accidentally shoot someone?" Duo asked from across the room. His voice didn't sound accusing, but one couldn't be sure.

"Quite easily if you're me." Her stomach was churning. She still felt guilty about the whole ordeal.

"Well if you didn't know what you were doing—" Relena started, but Heero cut her off.

"What does any of that have to do with you?" He demanded. "And you?" He turned to Duo. "I can distinctly remember you putting a few bullets in me too. And why are any of you mad about it anyway?" He said. "It was an accident. I can certainly vouch for that. It's not _funny_." He glared at the three who were chuckling. Only Sally sobered herself. "But it happened months ago, and _everybody's_ _over_ _it_!" He glared at Noin. "Noin! Get on with this meeting!"

She jumped to it before anyone could say anything else. "Yes. Well, we sent DNA samples to our lab last night immediately after the attack. Our labs only found anything on the guy about an hour ago. I have everything right here." She pointed to her laptop before she continued. "The gun he carried was Alliance military issue, although the same type was often used by OZ and White Fang soldiers as well. However, there is no record of him as ever being a soldier for any of these organizations. His face—what we could still see of it—did not register at all in any of our systems. The only information we could get was that he was placed into a hospital on the J4 colony very early into the war, by an anonymous person. The man had no connections. No one ever came to see him or to claim him. No one ever found any form of identification. He was in a coma, apparently for his entire stay at the hospital. Here's where it gets interesting. There was an explosion one day in the wing the man was kept. No one ever could ever figure out how. There were 24 casualties. The man was counted among them, although no one could ever find his remains. After that, there is no mention of him. He is about as close to a ghost as you can get."

The room was silent after she finished. She looked around, to see if anyone would comment or question anything. When no one did, she opened the computer and pulled up a digitally reconstructed picture of the man's face.

"Although there is no evidence that the assassin was working for someone, it is pretty difficult to imagine him sneaking into a heavily secured party on his own. It's possible of course, but there are very few people who can do such a thing, and I would even go so far as to say that they are all in this room."

She sighed. "Because there is no evidence that the man was working for someone, the Preventers cannot declare a state of alarm. In case anyone was wondering, by the way, the Preventers are facing numerous charges from certain politicians about our disregard of the "no weapons" rule last night. They're saying that we are no better than the assassin. Some are even suggesting that we had something to do with the attack."

Everyone looked at each other nervously.

"But those are only a few people." Milliardo assured them. "It will be easily cleared up. It was my house after all. All I have to do is say that I secretly authorized it—which I did—and that Relena and her security did as well—which they didn't, but it doesn't matter."

He waved the issue away.

"Don't worry. This will all be cleared up soon." She sounded like a camp councilor. "The full time Preventers will be leaving to return to headquarters tomorrow at noon so that we can discuss how to proceed with Une. The rest of you are welcome to join." Noin looked reassuringly from one person to another. Finally, her eyes rested on Audrey. Her brows furrowed. "What's that?" She pointed to the pink cup with the umbrella in Audrey's hands.

"What?" Audrey pulled it closer to her as if to hide it. She really didn't want to become the center of everyone's attention again.

Regardless of what she wanted, all heads simultaneously turned in her direction.

"It's nothing." Audrey said. "Just a drink."

Noin looked at her suspiciously.

Heero looked at Audrey, and then down at the drink. He looked back up at her again before pulling the straw over and taking a quick sip. "Where'd you get this?" He asked with a light chuckle.

"Uhhh…" She glanced over at Milliardo who was somehow managing to look suave and innocent at the same time. She just shrugged at Heero and Noin.

Noin had seen the glance and turned to Milliardo. She noticed the bottle in his own hand. "Zechs, you didn't buy that for her did you?"

"Me?" His face hardly changed, except for a small glint of mischief in his eyes.

She gave him a withering glare.

"I owed her." He stuck up his nose and leaned against the wall.

Her glare darkened.

"It's not strong." He crossed his arms.

"Buying drinks for minors is illegal." Noin chided. "You are in a tight spot as it is. You don't need something like this to tip the scale."

"You're a minor?" Milliardo put on his best shocked face and stared at Audrey as if seeing her for the first time. "If I had known…" He looked back at Noin innocently. "What's done is done, I suppose."

Noin's glare vanished and she sighed.

Heero discreetly tried to have another sip, but Audrey swatted him away. "It's mine."

"Why didn't you get me one?" Dorothy asked from across the room. She pouted at Milliardo.

"Me too." Duo added.

"I would have liked to try it." Relena said, finally recovering from Heero's verbal beating.

Milliardo glared around at all the longing faces, silently telling them that they would be getting nothing from him.

The tension that had been in the room only a few minutes before melted away as everyone forgot about guns and assassins and accidental injuries.

Duo and Dorothy started scheming up ways to force Milliardo to buy them drinks. Some of their plans involved stealing his ID and trying to pass Dorothy or Quatre off as Milliardo. Another was to hogtie him and roast him over a spit until he gave in.

The room soon dissolved into a fit of laughter. Noin closed the computer. There wasn't much left to say, and there was no point in interrupting their fun. As she had so recently been reminded, they were still just kids after all.

* * *

A big thanks to all my reviewers. Sadly (or perhaps not) there will only be a few more chapters. If anyone has any special requests—cute scenarios or whatnot—just stick it in a review or email me your idea. I'll see what I can do. 


	26. Guys' Night

Chapter 26- Guys' Night

"You're going to a club?" Audrey asked, trying not to laugh.

Heero nodded. "It was Duo's idea." He explained. "The rest of the guys are going too." He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do at the club, but he figured that none of the others would either—besides Duo of course.

He pulled out a T shirt and started to put it on.

Audrey stopped him. "You're wearing that?"

Heero pulled the shirt back off and looked at it. There wasn't anything wrong with it as far as he could tell. No holes or stains. Just a regular shirt. "What's wrong with it?"

Audrey sighed. "C'mon this is the first time you go out with your friends in years. You can't wear that. You have to wear something that goes…BAM!"

Heero stared, not comprehending. "You want me to wear explosive clothing?"

She blinked confusedly before laughing. "No! You have to wear something nice though. Not just a T shirt."

He tossed the shirt back on top of his bag. "Well what do you suggest?"

She immediately took his question as permission to start rummaging though his things. After a few seconds, she came back up with a dark blue button up shirt.

"Here." She handed it to him "Leave the first few buttons undone…I don't suppose you have a chain…?"

He shook his head, and she frowned.

"Oh well." She said. "We'll get you one later. For now this will have to do."

Heero quickly put the shirt on, wondering what the importance of a chain was. When he was dressed, he stood silently waiting—only half mockingly—for Audrey's approval.

She smiled and undid a button. "That's better." She said stepping back and checking the time. He would be leaving in a minute or two. "Well have fun. Dance sexy." She demonstrated for him.

Heero's eyes widened. "I'm supposed to do that?"

Audrey thought for a second. "I don't know. Girls do. I don't really know how the guys dance. Something about leaning back…" She shrugged. "Just watch everybody else."

Heero stared for a second, suddenly feeling somewhat unsure of the night's activities. The room was silent for a moment, before a loud roar echoed in from the hallway.

"GUYS' NIGHT!!!!" Heero turned a disbelieving eye to the door at the sound of Duo bellowing.

He sighed and grabbed his jacket and phone. They were taking a limo that Quatre had rented, so there was no need to bring keys.

He stepped out of the room just in time to see Duo taking another breath in preparation to shout again. Heero clapped a hand over his mouth.

"There are other people in this hotel." Heero said. "None of which I would stop if they decided to beat you."

Duo grinned at him. "So you as excited as I am?"

Heero carefully schooled his face to become as stoic as possible.

Duo's grin widened. "I thought you would be."

Down the hall a door swung open.

Catherine could be heard lecturing Trowa as he walked out of their room. "…and you stay away from those hookers. They've got nothing to give you but diseases. Don't get into the car with a drunk driver, Trowa! Be safe!"

"Okay Sis." He said a little exasperatedly.

Quatre stepped out of his room, dressed to the nine as usual. Dorothy was giving him advice as well. "If any of you do anything dirty—strip, or a keg stand for instance" She slapped a camera into his hand. "I want a picture of it."

Wufei and Sally's door opened and Wufei was shoved out. "Go have fun!" Sally ordered. "I don't want to hear that you just sat in the corner." She slammed the door and locked it, giving him no option of going back in.

Wufei stared at the door before turning to the other four boys. He just shrugged and followed as they all headed for the elevator.

A few minutes later, a door creaked open, and a head with long platinum blonde hair poked out. Dorothy scanned the hall before skipping out and knocking on the door beside her. Hilde opened it, peering out curiously.

"Well all the guys are gone, what are we going to do?" Dorothy asked.

Hilde grinned. "I dunno. Let's get everybody else though."

The two girls went and pulled the other three out of their rooms.

"So what are we going to do?"  
"We could go out." Dorothy suggested.

"Audrey and I have to stay here in case something comes up with the investigation." Sally explained. "We're still working after all."

"Oh."

"We could have a slumber party." Catherine suggested.

"Yeah!" Audrey jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "I've never been to one."

"Seriously?" Dorothy asked.

Audrey nodded feeling a little pathetic.

"I haven't either." Said Sally.

"Me either." Hilde added sheepishly.

"Well that settles it." Dorothy said, sticking her hands on her hips. "A slumber party it is. Everyone go get showered, and put on the frilliest girly pj's you can find. What room are we meeting in?"

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"I have an X Box and DDR in my room." Audrey said.

All the girls stared at her for a second before grinning excitedly.

"Okay. Your room then." Dorothy said. "Everyone meet back here in fifteen minutes."

The five girls scurried off.

* * *

The limo pulled up in front of a large building with neon lights and tinted windows. 

The five boys stepped out of the limo and stared up at the building curiously. Loud music could be heard even out on the sidewalk.

"Well come on." Duo said wrapping his arms around Heero's and Quatre's shoulders. "Quatre, you'll have to get us in."

"I hope no one from the press is here." Quatre said nervously, adjusting his sunglasses and hat. He pulled out a large wad of cash and handed it to the doorman.

The five ex-gundam pilots entered without a hassle.

Inside was a huge room full of people dancing suggestively. A DJ was on the stage in the back, and there were big screens around that showed images of the crowd of dancers. There were several spiral staircases that led up to a balcony which had food, drinks, and booths to sit at. "Man I'm starved." Duo said heading straight for one of the staircases.

The other four, less than thrilled about the prospect of dancing, followed him closely.

Duo quickly found the food and ordered three pizzas. "We'll get more later, when we run out." He said as if to explain the small amount of food.

Food and drinks in hand, the five boys settled at a large round booth that was in the corner, but still overlooking the dance floor.

"Is this great or what?" Duo said over the noise. He took a huge bite of pizza and dripped cheese and pepperoni onto his chin.

"It's interesting." Quatre conceded.

"It's loud." Wufei complained. "I can hardly hear myself think."

"You're not supposed to think. That's the whole point." Duo laughed.

Just then three skimpily dressed girls walked up to the table.

"Hi." One, a girl with long red hair said. "Would any of you boys be interested in dancing?" She leaned over a bit to show them some cleavage.

The two girls behind her smiled seductively.

Quatre, who was closest to the girl, blushed profusely and busied himself with his drink.

Trowa blushed a bit as well. Wufei and Heero shared a glance, and then did their best to focus on their pizza.

"Sure we would." Duo said giving them a wink. "Just wait until we're done eating. We'll catch up with you later."

The three girls looked a bit put off that they hadn't all immediately accepted, but they smiled seductively again and left.

Four stares focused on Duo.

"Maxwell." Wufei growled. "Why did you do that?"

"What do you mean? Surely you knew that you all would have to dance. I'm sure your girls won't mind. They knew where we were coming after all. And I'm pretty sure that I heard Sally tell you not to just sit in the corner. And look what you're doing."

Heero, Quatre, and Trowa chuckled a bit. Wufei was, in fact, sitting in the corner. Wufei scowled.

"We don't want to be party poopers." Quatre said. His face had finally returned to its normal pale color. "We…well at least _I_ can't dance. Not like that anyway." He pointed to the crowd below them.

"I can't either." Trowa admitted.

"Me either." Heero said.

Wufei just scowled.

Duo frowned. "Well you've got to learn some time. Just watch for a while. You all will figure it out."

After a few minutes' silence, Duo spoke again. "Do you guys want to try to get drinks?"

"We've already got some." Quatre said, obliviously holding up his soda.

"He meant alcohol." Heero said. Looking at Duo, he just shrugged. "I don't care for it much."

"Oh no." Duo said, deciding to spice things up good naturedly. "The only person getting out of this is Quatre." He looked pointedly at Heero and sent him a smirk. "Not only are you gonna something, but you're gonna buy me a drink too."

Heero cocked an eyebrow. "Really."

Duo smirked. "Yeah." He pulled his jacket off and stuck his elbow on the table. "Unless you have any objections."

Heero smirked back at him. He didn't really care whether or not Duo made him buy a drink, but the prospect of an arm wrestle was too good to pass up. "You're on." He grabbed Duo's hand and waited for the other boys the push all the plates and pizza out of the way.

"Who's watching?" Duo asked.

"I will." Quatre said.

"Ten bucks on Yuy." Wufei said.

"Chang how could you?" Duo said in his best hurt voice.

"I'll take that." Trowa said. "Ten on Duo."

"Thank you." Duo said grinning at Trowa and sending a mock glare to Wufei.

"Ready?" Quatre put his hand on the top of the other two's. "Go." He pulled his hand back and instantly, Heero and Duo started.

Heero was surprised that Duo was actually putting up quite a fight. He and Heero were almost even. Slowly, however, Heero was gaining ground.

"So Zechs bought your girl a drink this morning…you might want to watch out." Duo said.

"Huh?"

Duo used Heero's momentary distraction to turn the scales. Heero stopped his hand a few inches from the table.

"Clever, Maxwell." He said as he started pushing his hand back up.

The three girls came back up wanting their dance, but they stopped when they saw what they were doing. "Ooh. I want to dance with the winner!" The red head squealed. The two other girls argued that they wanted to dance with the winner too, and so they settled that they all would have him.

Heero couldn't hear their entire argument, but he got the gist of it. Trying not to make it obvious, he lessened up a bit.

Duo thinking that Heero was distracted, tried all the harder to win. He needn't have bothered. Heero had no desire to make a fool of himself with three floozies. Buying Duo a drink wouldn't be all that bad.

Heero's hand finally met the table, and Duo jumped up victoriously. "Alright ladies!" He said, hopping over Trowa to get to his three prizes. The three girls swooned over him and his muscles as he started leading them away. He stopped after taking a few steps, and looked back at Heero. "I expect my drink when I get back."

Heero just nodded, and rolled his eyes as they walked away.

"Tough luck." Trowa joked, knowing perfectly well what had happened.

Heero chuckled and took a long swallow of his drink.

"I can't believe you threw that, Yuy." Wufei complained slapping a ten dollar bill into Trowa's waiting hand. "You just lost me ten dollars."

"What do you mean?" Heero said innocently. "He overpowered me. There was nothing I could have done."

Wufei snorted and Quatre and Trowa laughed.

* * *

"So who do you think is hotter?" Dorothy was lying on her stomach on top of the extra bed in Heero and Audrey's room. She was painting her finger nails a flaming pink. "Trowa or Milliardo." 

"I'm gonna sit this one out." Catherine said. She was struggling to keep up with the steps in the dance game, and the sudden question had just thrown her off. She had no desire to think of her adopted baby brother in any sexual fashion, so she just busied herself with hopping around the mat to catch up.

"I've always had a thing for Milliardo." Dorothy admitted.

"Neither is bad on the eyes." Hilde said not turning to look at her. Audrey was trying her best to braid Hilde's short hair, and if Hilde moved, it would only make it more difficult.

Audrey nodded. "But they look totally different. They're both tall though."

"Major plus." Hilde added.

"They're difficult to compare." Sally said. "Both are quiet, but it's a different kind of quiet. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Audrey said.

"Milliardo's got that suave, debonair thing about him, although he can sometimes turn into a jerk. I've never seen Trowa get upset with anyone."

Dorothy remained quiet.

"Trowa seems more sensitive, and sweet. Maybe even…" She trailed off searching for the right word.

"Shy?" Audrey supplied.

They all giggled.

"Isn't he though?" Sally said, sobering a bit.

"It's so cute." Audrey added. They all dissolved into fits of giggles again.

"So a tie?" Dorothy asked.

"On looks." Hilde answered.

"What about Heero then?"

"What about him?" Audrey nearly choked.

"He's a real cutie." Catherine said. "It's a shame he's so much younger than me."

"Age doesn't matter all that much." Sally said.

"Not to you at least." Audrey teased.

Sally laughed a bit. "What matters," She said wisely. "is experience."

"Oh!" Dorothy shot up and fixed her gaze on Audrey. "And how much _experience_ does Heero have?"

Catherine stopped dancing and looked curiously at Audrey as well. Sally was smirking over at her.

Audrey froze in spot. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb." Dorothy said. "How is he? I'd bet he's a beast."

"Now Dorothy." Catherine chided. "That's personal."

"This is a slumber party." Dorothy said. "It's what you're supposed to talk about."

"Well let's hear your stories then." Audrey said, trying to busy herself with Hilde's hair to get the attention off of her.

"I asked first. Now come on. Spill."

Audrey heaved a sigh. "We'veneverslepttogether." She mumbled quickly.

The room was filled with a chorus of "huh?"

Only Hilde heard her on account of being so close. "You've never slept with him? But Duo said-"

Audrey cut her off. "Duo infers too much. Heero and I share a bed, but we've never…you know…"

Dorothy looked shell-shocked. "Are you serious?"

Audrey shrugged. "Yeah."

The room was silent for a minute, before Dorothy got over her shock. "So…you've never even him naked?"

"No." Audrey said at the same time Catherine blurted out. "I have."

Four pairs of surprised and curious eyes turned to her.

Catherine shrugged. "It was years ago. I had to play his nursemaid after he was caught in some kind of explosion. He was like 15."

The room was again silent for a few minutes before Dorothy blurted out. "Did you take a picture?"

Everyone succumbed to giggles again.

* * *

They swaggered out of the club, weaving a bit unsteadily. Duo thought it would be fun to walk down by the seashore, so to the seashore they headed. 

Heero had indeed bought Duo a drink, and had later gone back for one for himself, Wufei and Trowa as well. Duo wasn't satisfied with just one drink, and had insisted that they get a few more rounds. Quatre, who didn't drink for religious reasons, was amused to just watch the other boys' antics.

Duo had also not been satisfied allowing the other four boys just sit and watch the dancing. He had forced them all onto the floor. Wufei had been pretty stiff the entire time, only wholeheartedly participating when a fight had broken out around them and the entire floor was turned into a mash pit. Trowa had a natural grace and rhythm, and had quickly gotten into the groove so to speak. Quatre and Heero were a bit slower to warm up to the style of dancing, but after a little coaching from Duo had begun to enjoy themselves.

Now walking down the street, they were quite the sight. Heero, Wufei, and Duo were stumbling drunkenly every so often, although Heero and Wufei were trying to compose themselves. Still, they found it very difficult to not crack up laughing at even the slightly funniest things. Duo was nearly completely smashed. His speech was slurred, and he was having trouble walking without leaning on one of the other four.

Trowa was a bit more sober than the other three. He hadn't drank as much as they had, and also, being slightly bigger than them, he was able to hold alcohol better. He was presently serving as Duo's crutch.

Quatre, although not in the least drunk, had not escaped the club unaltered. When the mash pit had erupted around them, he had rather nervously joined in the fun. But then someone had smashed an elbow into his face, effectively cracking his sunglasses and causing his nose to throb painfully.

Quatre was inconspicuously reading the street signs as they walked, trying to find the quickest way to the seashore. Duo had sworn that he could direct them there, but Quatre doubted that he could find his way to the other side of the street without their help.

They reached a street corner, where oddly enough a scantily clad woman was standing. The boys all continued walking—although Duo shouted a suggestive remark at her. A few steps into the street, Quatre stopped. He looked back at the girl, wondering why she was standing there and not crossing the street with them. The sign said to walk.

_Perhaps she's waiting for someone._ Quatre thought. _Or maybe she's homeless._ Quatre's heart went out to the woman. He stared at her for a second before walking back over to her. "Excuse me miss." Quatre said a little nervously. He decided that it would be impolite to ask if she was homeless, so kept with his other conjecture. Despite the odd look the woman gave him, Quatre plowed on. "Are you waiting for someone?"

She looked him up and down and then took a step toward him. "I could be waiting for you." She said.

Quatre blinked. "Waiting for me? Do I know you?"

"Do you want to?"

_It would be rude to say no._ Quatre thought. He smiled kindly and extended his hand to her. "I'm Quatre."

She looked amused, but then noticed the golden watch on his arm. "That's a nice watch." She hinted. "I would do quite a bit for a watch like that."

Quatre was somewhat disturbed by the look she was giving him. "It…it is nice." He said, but then tried to get back on topic. "Do you have some place to stay?"

She grinned predatorily and slid her hands onto his shoulders. Quatre flinched, and stilled, not knowing what was going on. "It's just…It's not safe…to be out at night by yourself." He informed her, tilting his head back to get it out of her reach.

She pressed herself closer to him and ran her thigh up his leg.

Quatre stumbled backwards, and pulled out a small wad of cash. "You should find yourself somewhere to spend the night."

With that, he turned and ran across the street.

* * *

They had gotten to the other side of the street when anyone noticed that Quatre was not with them. Heero noticed first, since he had occasionally been stumbling into the other boy, and turned back to look across the street. There, Quatre was standing. The prostitute they had just passed was running her hands over his shoulders. "What's Quatre doing?" Heero asked upon noticing the scene. 

Wufei turned as well. His eyes widened and he stared.

Duo looked back and let out a bark of laughter upon seeing Quatre. "He's buying enter…maintese." He paused wondering what he'd just said, and then plowed on, swaying a bit. "Hope he shares."

"I can't imagine Quatre doing that." Trowa said, looking slightly perturbed. "Perhaps we should go get him."

"Nah." Duo's arm, already looped across Trowa's shoulders, tightened fraternally. "He'll be fine."

"Does he even knows…she's a…a proshtitute." Heero slurred brokenly while frowning perplexedly at Quatre. "I agree with…Torowah. We should go and…and get him."

"You guys are both losers." Duo said. "Quatre's a big boy. He knows that's a hooker."

"Doubt it." Wufei said. "But thish…is gonna be funny." He crossed his arms and shifted a bit sloppily to a more comfortable stance, showing that he would do just that.

"Take a picture! Somebody! Camera…" Duo yelled suddenly. He jerked away from Trowa in his excitement and almost immediately started toppling over the other way. He bumped into Heero who stumbled into a wall before he managed to catch himself. Duo would have slammed face first into the cement if Trowa hadn't quickly caught him.

Wufei howled with laughter and quickly pulled the camera out of his pocket. He snapped a few pictures of the unbalanced boys before turning the camera on Quatre.

Heero couldn't help but laugh as well.

Trowa, deciding that he had enough to deal with at the moment, stood and waited impatiently for Quatre to come back.

The four boys' eyes widened when they saw the woman fling herself onto Quatre and Quatre pull some money out of his pocket.

"I'll be damned." Wufei muttered at the implication. He snapped a picture of that just for kicks.

They melted into confusion again, a second later as they watched Quatre frantically turn and run toward them. The woman didn't follow.

Quatre stopped in front of them, face flushed, eyes wide, and shaking a bit.

"Dude, what are…you doing?" A newly righted Duo asked, leaning across Trowa and almost losing his balance again. Trowa held his arm across his shoulders and then used his other arm to steady him a bit.

Quatre stared at him. "I don't know. That was weird."

"That was a presto…prosto…tute." Heero informed him, still chuckling. Wufei was snickering beside him. He snapped a picture of Quatre's flustered face.

Quatre's eyes got wide. "A prostitute? How can you tell?" He looked back at the woman, who was still standing on the other corner staring at him. It suddenly all became clear to him. "Oh…I didn't know she was a prostitute."

Trowa frowned. "She's wearing nothing but underwear and heels. You didn't find that odd?"

"That's not underwear." Duo chuckled, but everyone ignored him.

Quatre looked sheepish. "I did think she was oddly dressed for a homeless person."

Heero, Duo, and Wufei burst out laughing. Even Trowa couldn't hide the chuckles that escaped at his friend's expense.

Quatre looked offended. "It's an innocent mistake." He said. The four started walking toward the shore again, still laughing. Quatre followed. "It is!"

* * *

They stumbled up the hall a few hours later, snickering at each other, and not so quietly let themselves into their rooms. 

Audrey was sound asleep, when suddenly her bed seemed to collapse. Something wrapped around her waist and started pulling her toward it. She squealed and wriggled away.

"Audrey…" What she now realized to be a person whined.

She clicked the light on to see Heero sprawled across the bed and holding his ears. He shaded his eyes when she turned the light on.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her shock fading into irritation.

He mumbled something that she couldn't comprehend and rolled over. He grabbed onto her again and pulled her toward him.

She gasped at the unexpected move. Heero rolled on top of her and started planting kisses all over her face and neck.

She giggled a bit, but then caught a whiff of alcohol. "Are you drunk?" She asked, trying to wiggle away again. She knew that he was.

He mumbled something between kisses and started rubbing his hands down her sides. Eventually, one of his hands snaked up her shirt.

She gasped and slapped him. "Heero Yuy! What do you think you're doing! Get off of me right now!"

"You're so beautiful." He said, a bit clearer than before, looking at her with lusty eyes.

"You're so drunk!" She countered. "Get off!"

He whined and gripped her hip with one hand while the other traveled farther up her shirt. "I love you."

She froze for a second and looked into his eyes. He appeared to be completely honest. She was almost touched, but then she felt something hard pressing into her leg. She gasped, and putting all her strength into one good push, threw him off of her.

"Hey!"

She got up and opened the bathroom door. "C'mon." She said, motioning him over.

He stared at her confusedly before getting up and swaggered drunkenly over to her.

She led him over to the tub, and when he seemed more inclined to fondle her than take a shower, pushed him in. She turned the shower on cold and let it spray him.

He sputtered, choking out water and sobering almost instantly.

Audrey flipped the light on and stood at the edge of the tub to stare at him.

He shielded his eyes and then looked at her confusedly. "Wha…?"

"I don't like you drunk." She stated crossing her arms. She wouldn't let on that he had scared her by behaving as the drunken man did a year before, but she figured he knew.

"Oh." He shivered a bit and pulled off his sopping wet shirt tossing it aside. He appeared confused as to how he had gotten where he was, but he knew that he was in trouble and decided not to ask. His brain was still a bit foggy, but the cold water had shocked him back to reality a bit. "Sorry." Was all he said.

She didn't say anything. She just turned and went back to bed.

Heero shakily pulled himself up and turned the water warmer. He quickly showered. Once he wasn't under the spray of cold water, he slowly grew more dazed. By the time he finished his shower, all he could think about was going to sleep. So without even bothering to put any clothes on, he slipped into bed beside Audrey. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was out.

Audrey rolled over at his rather graceless entrance. Before she could tell him that she preferred him to sleep in the other bed, he was sound asleep. She rolled her eyes and scowled at him. Slowly, though her irritation melted.

He'd told her he loved her.

Had that just been a drunken rambling? He'd seemed sincere.

She didn't know why it was so astonishing.

He'd done it before hadn't he? She couldn't remember a specific instance, but she was certain that he must have.

Hadn't their mutual attraction—even love—been established months ago?

She'd thought so.

Despite her questions of whether or not he did in fact love her, she couldn't help smiling a bit.

She looked over at him and brushed some wet hair off of his face. He was so cute when he slept.

He shifted a bit and wrapped his arm around her waist, burying his face in her chest.

She grabbed the blankets that he'd disturbed and began untangling them. In the process, she froze, quickly jerking the blankets up to herself and staring at the ceiling in disbelief. Her gaze slid over to Heero's face and she studied him for a second.

_I must be seeing things. It can't be._

Taking a deep breath, she slowly lifted the blankets again and peeked under them curiously.

"Oh." She whispered pulling the blankets back to her. She couldn't help the light blush that formed on her cheeks. "So you _are_ naked…that's interesting."

She bit her lip, wondering what exactly she should do. He was practically on top of her. And he was completely nude. And he was sound asleep.

Deciding that there wasn't much she could do without waking him up and making the situation worse, she shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

_Safer to deal with him when he's hung over than when he's drunk. He'll be much more remorseful that way._ She would make him pay for all this in the morning. She was sure of that. How much he would pay though…

Unable to help herself, she peeked once more under the blanket. _I'll get over it…hmm…_ _No wonder Dorothy's so obsessed._

* * *

Yeah I know it's been a while. Sorry about that. But anyways here it is. I hope you enjoyed it. 

As always. Thank you so much to all of my reviewers. Also thanks to you guys who gave me suggestions. I'm working on ways to incorporate some of your ideas.


	27. Married?

Chapter 27—Married?

"Rise and shine!" An annoyingly cheerful and high pitched voice commanded.

Heero's only response was to roll onto his stomach and bury his face into the pillow. Heero heard the sound of the curtains being pulled open, but thankfully, his face was shielded from the light.

A few seconds later, someone was poking his shoulder.

"C'mon. Get up and put some clothes on."

Heero groaned and pulled his face out of the pillow. He cracked his eyes open to be violently assaulted by the bright sunlight. He quickly shut his eyes, but not before recognizing the blurry shadow bent over him. Audrey.

"I'm sick." He said dropping his face back into the pillow.

"You're hung over." She informed him. "And naked, in case you were wondering."

Through the throbbing in his head, Heero found himself to be mildly curious. Shifting a bit, he picked up the blankets to find that he was in fact completely nude.

"Why am I naked?" He asked, as if he couldn't quite convince himself of the situation.

"Why indeed?" She answered mysteriously crossing her arms and frowning down at him. Suddenly, inspiration struck. "All I know." She said, glad that he couldn't seem to focus enough to see her face. She was such a terrible actor. "Is that you came in completely drunk last night and started climbing on top of me. It hurts that you can't even remember."

"Remember?" Heero had a nervous feeling in his stomach. "Remember what?"

"You mean you can't remember any of it?" To her surprise, she thought she sounded almost real. "It was such a magical night."

"Why?" He was definitely panicked now. "What…what did we do?"

She huffed. "Well you put it together" She paused for dramatic effect and then decided to drive it home. "Although…you wouldn't mind if we had a baby right?"

That nervous feeling in his stomach quickly turned into nausea, and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

Audrey hurriedly grabbed the trash can and shoved it under him. "I'm sorry." She chuckled, deciding to end her game before he had long-term medical problems. "That was mean of me." She headed over to the bathroom to get him a glass of water.

He finished emptying his stomach, but remained completely silent, watching Audrey come back over. His eyes were wide, confused, and terrified.

"What?" She asked, forcing the water into his numb hand. "Didn't you hear me? We didn't do anything, although I do believe that you intended to. I wasn't lying about you climbing on top of me. I just left out the part where I threw you into a cold shower. I guess you didn't feel like getting dressed afterwards."

He continued to stare at her for a second before he scowled. "You…you…"

"I was just messing with you." She said, nodding cheerfully, although she felt a little guilty. "Although you deserved it." She said more for herself than for him.

He just continued to scowl. He was angry at her for playing such a mean trick, but he was angrier at himself for setting himself up for it. He really didn't recall any of what she said he did, but judging by his state of non-attire, he would wager that she was telling the truth. Or at least he'd hope she was, because there weren't many other explanations that he would prefer. Of course, he would prefer not to be in the situation in the first place, but there was nothing to do about that now.

He decided that he would never get so drunk again. Not only did he feel like crap now, but if getting his girlfriend pregnant was a possible outcome, he could easily pass it up.

"Well come on." Audrey's voice broke through his thoughts. "Get dressed. We're going down for breakfast."

"I'm not hungry." And he wasn't. In fact, just the mention of food made his nausea return.

"Nonsense." She said. "Get up. It's not my fault you're hung over, and you might not see any of your friends for a really long time. So come on."

He knew that she was right, but he really didn't feel like moving. He didn't even know if he could.

"You're going to have to get up in a little while anyways. We've got a plane to catch at noon."

He made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "Fine." He sat up, shakily and prepared to drag himself out of bed.

"Good." Audrey busied herself with packing her things, making no move to leave the room.

Heero stared at her for a second. Was she expecting him to just dress in front of her? "Are you going to get out?" He nudged.

She finished zipping up her bag. "Oh, so _now_ we're modest." She joked, but turned and left nonetheless.

Heero frowned after her. He wished he could remember what had happened the night before. Although he knew that nothing really life changing had happened, he would still like to know…at least whether or not they had slept in the same bed. That question was going to kill him, but he didn't think he could bring himself to ask.

Sighing painfully, he dragged himself from his bed and went in search of some clothes.

* * *

Apparently, all the other girls had had the same idea as Audrey, because every single gundam pilot was soon seated at the same table they had eaten breakfast at the day before. 

Wufei looked downright murderous, and Duo and Trowa looked a little less than thrilled at being up so early in the morning. Quatre looked a little on the tired side, but other than that, we was his usual cheerful self.

Heero slid into the seat beside Duo with a groan. He was not enjoying the brightness of the room, nor the fact that all the girls were talking so loudly. Duo glanced painfully over at him, but didn't say anything. He looked positively sick. After a second, he slid his empty plate out of the way and dropped his head onto the table.

The food spread across the table looked quite unappetizing, Heero thought nauseously. Apparently, most of the other boys were having the same problem, because none of them were making any move to eat.

Heero decided that Duo had a pretty good idea and, folding his arms on the table, rested his head in them.

"Now let's see what pictures we've got." Dorothy's voice rose above the rest. "Come on girls!"

Heero grimaced. All the girls seemed to be talking intentionally loudly. Despite how atrociously noisy they were, however, and despite the fact that he felt absolutely miserable, he slowly felt himself fall back to sleep.

Audrey left Heero to fall asleep in his chair and moved down the table to where all the other girls and Quatre were congregating around someone's laptop to look at the pictures.

The first five pictures were of the boys riding in the limousine. They passed over these without much incident—although a few comments were passed about each boy's outfit.

The next few pictures were of the boys eating and joking around in the booth. They finally got to the picture of Duo and Heero arm wrestling. That one got a few whistles and hoots, although neither Heero nor Duo were now lucid enough to actually hear them.

The next picture was of a rather ruffled Duo standing with his arms around two of the three girls he'd danced with.

"Who're they?" Hilde asked, frowning toward Duo. The question was directed to Quatre however.

"Oh. They're just some girls that wanted to dance with us. Duo danced with all three of them because none of us really knew how…and because they were kinda the 'prize' for winning the arm wrestling contest. Duo won."

Sally actually choked, and Dorothy looked more than shocked.

Audrey had no idea why they were so surprised. Heero was strong sure, but Duo was a gundam pilot too.

"I have reason to believe that Heero threw the match." Quatre said quietly so that Duo wouldn't overhear. He needn't have bothered. Duo was completely oblivious to everything around him.

"Did he." Sally chuckled and glanced at Audrey. Audrey ignored her.

The next few pictures were of the boys dancing, and of the mash pit. There was one of Quatre holding his nose with Trowa looking at him worriedly, and Wufei standing on the other side of Quatre laughing.

Quatre had to explain to all the girls the story of how he'd been hit in the nose.

There were a few more pictures of the boys dancing and goofing around in the booth.

There were a few of Duo and Heero apparently falling over each other in the street.

Finally, they got to a picture of Quatre standing on the street corner with a scantily clad woman nearly hanging off him.

Quatre immediately blushed and quickly changed it to the next picture, but that one was even more compromising than the first.

Dorothy quickly pulled his hands away from the computer, and she and all the other girls leaned around to look at his face. They were all completely silent, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Wh…what?" He asked innocently, trying to pull his hand away from Dorothy's and change the picture.

They all remained silent for a minute longer, before Sally asked. "Quatre…what…? What is this?"

Quatre was still blushing a deep shade of red. "Well I…" He chuckled embarrassedly. "I didn't know that she was a prostitute."

There was another moment of shocked silence before all the girls burst into laughter. Dorothy and Sally gave him sympathetic pats on the back.

"I thought she was homeless or something." He continued, trying to make sure that they all understood his innocence. "And I wanted to make sure that she wasn't in danger."

"That must have been quite an experience, for you." Sally said through her laughter.

"It was rather scary." Quatre admitted.

All the girls laughed harder. Even Trowa managed a small, pained chuckle.

* * *

A few hours later the entire party was seated in the airport. They still had about a half hour until their flight. 

There were a few quiet conversations going on amongst the girls and Quatre, but the rest of the guys preferred to sleep in their seats.

Audrey had been chatting with Dorothy and Hilde—and carefully avoiding mentioning her little prank on Heero that morning—when Noin, Milliardo, Relena and Pagan walked in.

"Hi guys." Noin greeted them cheerfully.

Milliardo stood slightly behind Noin and quickly sized up the varying states of the gundam pilots. He wasn't very impressed, but upon seeing Heero slouched miserably in his chair, inspiration suddenly struck.

After the conversation had turned away from them, and Relena was safely situated near Sally, Milliardo pulled Noin to the side and whispered something to her. Noin's face turned mischievous for a second before it returned to her normal serene expression. She whispered something back to him, and then without another word, Milliardo hurriedly turned and strode away.

Audrey noticed the entire altercation with a little curiosity, but otherwise thought nothing of it. She just turned back to the other two girls, and continued planning the next group vacation.

A few minutes later, Noin joined their conversation. They continued to chat for a while, and then all of a sudden, everyone stopped. It seemed as if the entire airport had suddenly gone quiet. The odd thing was…everyone was staring at something right behind Audrey.

Curiously she started to turn in her seat. Coincidentally, at that exact second, she felt icy water being poured on her. With a scream of surprise, she jumped out of her seat.

Heero had had a similar reaction, since he had been doused with the water as well.

Both completely shocked and confused, they looked around wildly before focusing on an innocent looking Milliardo standing behind where they had been sitting.

"Oops." He said, somehow managing to portray a little remorse in his expression. He looked down at his now empty cup and then back at them. "I tripped."

Heero and Audrey both just stared, as a few others started to snicker.

Audrey crossed her arms in front of her chest, and Heero, upon noticing this, dutifully took off his jacket and handed it to her.

"Oh you needn't bother with that." Milliardo said. He reached into a bag that he'd been carrying. "Luckily, I have extra t shirts. You can have them."

Audrey looked relieved, until Milliardo pulled the shirts out of the bag. Her eyes widened.

If Heero's glare could have gotten any more deadly, at this moment, it surely would have. "What is that?"

It was at this moment that Noin walked over. It was obvious that she was working to keep from laughing. Quite a few other people around them weren't as successful in their attempts, because there were small bursts of laughter at this point.

"They're shirts, of course." Noin supplied, and taking them from Milliardo, handed one to each of them.

Heero looked rather reluctant to even be in the same room as the offered item, but figuring that he had no choice but to put something else on, he took it. Grumpily, he held it up to see what levels of humiliation he would be subjected to. His face fell.

Audrey mimicked him and also took her shirt to study it. Instead of becoming grumpy or sullen however, she let out a bark of laughter. "Just married?" She read. And indeed, on the front of both bright pink shirts, was written "Just Married" in curly, decorative script. "This doesn't have anything to do with that hotel room does it? Revenge perhaps?"

"It has everything to do with it." Milliardo explained.

"I was not involved with that." Heero complained. He didn't find the situation to be all that amusing. In fact, he didn't feel like being awake at all.

"But you laughed when you heard about it." Milliardo countered.

"Everyone laughed."

"Well it doesn't matter." Noin said. "You two can't go walking around soaking wet. And since all of your clothes have already been taken to the baggage carts, you'll just have to wear this."

"Lucky for us, you two both had 'Just Married' shirts lying around." Audrey joked as she headed off to the bathroom. "Although I _do_ wonder why."

The matching looks of shock and defensiveness on Milliardo's and Noin's faces were enough for Heero to pull himself out of his slouch and send them both smirks. He was still dreading the thought of wearing the embarrassing shirt, but it wasn't so bad now that Audrey had turned the joke around on them.

Still, he rather grudgingly followed Audrey in the direction of the bathrooms so that he could change.

When they returned a few minutes later, both wearing their new, matching, pink, just married shirts. Even those suffering from hangovers appeared to have been roused for the soul purpose of laughing at them. Heero just glared at everyone in general.

"Why Heero, I've never seen you look so bright and cheerful." Duo called to him. He was still slouched impossibly low in his seat, but his amusement at Heero's expense was evident.

"Yeah Yuy." Wufei added tauntingly. "Do you smell like a flower too?"

"It's not so bad." Quatre assuaged. His own wardrobe occasionally consisted of pink items, although none so glaring as the shirt Heero was now wearing.

"I agree." Trowa said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's a good look for you."

He just scowled at all of them.

"Well you're certainly not acting like newlyweds." Dorothy said.

"Yeah!" Duo shouted, and then grabbed his head from the pain it caused. Not wasting a second though, he continued. "Where's all the huggin' and kissin?'"

"Ooh! Lala! You read my mind!" Dorothy joined in.

There was soon a chorus of agreement—minus Relena, who just sat to the side quietly. She had determined that there wasn't much that she could do about Heero's and Audrey's relationship without alienating Heero altogether. Still, it hurt to see him with someone else.

Dorothy's camera was soon pulled out and held at the ready.

"One for camera then?" Audrey whispered to Heero.

Heero looked over at her. He was certainly not opposed to kissing her, but doing it for public amusement was a little…well he didn't really know. And, he was still a little miffed about her little prank earlier that morning. Still, a quick peck wouldn't hurt.

Her shrugged and wrapped his arm around her waist. "We're not a sideshow." He announced to everyone, but nevertheless pulled Audrey closer to him. Audrey giggled a little as everyone went silent in anticipation. She slid her hands up to his shoulders and then wrapped them around his neck.

A moment later their lips met in a chaste kiss. There were hoots and cat calls from the group, and quite a few of the other people in the airport, turned to look their way.

What they'd intended to be a quick chaste kiss, but unspoken agreement deepened to something more. Neither appeared able to pull away, and they both seemed to forget that there were other people around them.

The racket their friends were making soon died, only to be replaced with an shocked silence. They all just stared at the two teenagers making out in the middle of the airport, and occasionally shot glances at the other people to see their reactions.

After what seemed like an eternity the two finally separated. They stared at each other for a few seconds, catching their breath before they seemed to simultaneously remember that they had an audience. They both blushed a bit when they noticed that every eye within seeing distance was turned toward them.

The entire area was silent for another second, before Duo gave a bark of laughter and started clapping. Soon the others joined in. Relena just continued to stare at the two, entirely shocked by the whole display. It seemed as though a little piece of her heard had just died, as though she had finally fully realized that Heero wasn't hers. Forcing a small smile that she surely didn't feel, she managed to make herself join in the applause.

* * *

Heero, Audrey, Sally, and Wufei were seated on a plane back to America. 

The gundam pilots had again gone their separate ways.

The Preventers would be heading back to Sanction. All the rest had their own business to attend to, although they had promised to check in every now and then.

Quatre, Dorothy, Duo and Hilde, would be going back to space. Trowa and Catherine would be meeting up with the Circus in Russia.

Within minutes of the flight's takeoff, Heero was asleep on Audrey's shoulder. Sally thought it was infinitely cute, and wished more than once that she had a camera handy—especially since their matching t shirts made them quite the spectacle. The lady who took their tickets had even stopped to congratulate them before they boarded the plane.

To the rest of the group's surprise, neither corrected her. Furthermore, they had both acted the part of newlyweds with almost practiced ease.

Wufei had fallen asleep as well, but somehow managed to stay sitting rigidly upright in his seat.

Noin and Milliardo were sitting across the aisle. It had taken a while for them both to get over the success of their little prank, but eventually they had. Peace didn't last long, however. Once Milliardo had realized the extent of Heero's and Wufei's hangovers, he had been making a habit of talking exceptionally loudly just to get a rise out of them.

Once they had fallen asleep, however, he had reluctantly given up his game, and had instead settled on trying to pry information from the night before out of Sally and Audrey.

The flight landed hours later, and none too soon in Audrey's opinion. Heero and Wufei had appeared to have recovered from their hangovers for the most part, although they were still rather grumpy.

She had taken a nap on the plane as well, since it had been such a long flight.

They walked out of the plane and onto the Preventer's private runway, to be met with Une and a few other high ranking Preventers.

"Welcome back." She greeted them. "I trust the flight was—" She stopped short and looked closer at Heero. She then turned a calculating eye on Audrey. Heero cocked a confused eyebrow, and Audrey looked a little nervous at the way Une was staring at her.

Une opened her mouth, and then shut it again. She looked over the Noin and Milliardo for clarification, but they were trying their hardest not to start laughing. Sally and Wufei were in a similar state.

"Well." Une straightened and looked back to Heero and Audrey. "I guess…congratulations are in order."

They both looked confused for a second, and then it seemed to click. The ten hour flight had caused them to completely forget about what they were wearing.

"Oh! You mean the shirts?" Audrey laughed. "Courtesy of Noin and Milliardo. They're their shirts. We're just wearing them because someone spilled a drink on us."

Une turned a curious eye to the mentioned pair. They had sobered again.

"No one got married." Milliardo said before she could get the chance to say anything.

"The shirts were a joke." Noin continued.

"This was their payback for the pink hotel room."

"Oh. Charming." Une laughed. "Well welcome back. If there's nothing terribly important that has just occurred in the past few hours, I believe that we should all go home. Get a good night's sleep." She purposely eyed Heero and Wufei who still looked a little rough. Neither appeared very affected by the look. "I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning to discuss our present situation."

They were all quite grateful to be able to go home instead of having to stay and sit in a boring meeting.

* * *

It was one of the rare times that Heero allowed Audrey to drive. He didn't really feel like it, and it was only for a few miles. 

He just slouched against the window, and didn't say anything.

"Are you feeling okay?" Audrey asked after they had been sitting in silence for ten minutes. She had never been hung over before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She supposed that if he had felt sick, the plane ride probably wouldn't have helped anything.

"'m fine." He mumbled. "Watch the road."

She huffed at the order. She sat quietly for a few more seconds before the silence became unbearable. "I wonder if Noin and Milliardo want these shirts back."

He snorted. "I doubt it. They bought them for us."

"You make them sound benevolent."

He managed a tired chuckle. "I didn't intend to."

"Well not that you don't look lovely in pink, but umm, do you want to keep it then?"

He looked down at the shirt and grimaced when the bright pink nearly blinded him. It was so hideous.

Audrey chuckled at his reaction, but was totally shocked by what he said next. "I'll keep it."

The jeep jerked a little as she turned to look at him.

"Watch the road." He repeated, although there was little force behind it.

"Did you just say you were going to keep that shirt?" She looked back at the road, but kept glancing at him every few seconds. "Heero, when would you wear it?"

He glanced at the shirt and then over at her. There was an odd look in his eye. "When I get married." He said. "Keep yours too."

She felt butterflies in her stomach, but tried to ignore them. He couldn't have possibly meant anything by that right? "Heero you should watch what you say. That statement can be construed in quite a few ways."

He smirked mysteriously. "Maybe I meant it to be."

She couldn't fight the blush and the small smile that crept onto her face.

* * *

The week that followed at the Preventers was long and tiring. They were both constantly in conferences, and strategy sessions, or working on agendas, or teaching techniques to a fresh batch of new recruits. 

The busy week at work, was matched by an increasingly interesting week at home. Heero had begun to act quite differently around Audrey. Besides the obvious increase in protectiveness that would be expected after her near death experience (her parents had been calling more often as well) he had become much more affectionate. Whereas before, small kisses were reserved for usually right before going to bed or when she was cooking something that he especially liked, he had now gotten into the habit of stealing a kiss at just random times. Make out sessions, which had been rather rare, were now becoming more frequent and more passionate—even to the point that she had had to stop him a few times lest they go farther than she was ready to go.

She couldn't explain his sudden affection, although she had a feeling that it also stemmed from her nearly dying. She knew that he had actually been rather shaken up about it, especially the night after it had happened. He had clung to her all night as if afraid that if he didn't she would somehow disappear.

Whatever his reasons for the change were, she couldn't say that she disliked the attention. Quite the contrary actually. She might even go so far as to say that she gave as good as she got.

By the time Friday rolled around, they were both completely exhausted, and so it was no surprise that they both slept until well after ten.

"We should go visit our neighbors." Audrey said the next morning as she served up their rather late breakfast.

"Our…neighbors?" Heero shoved a spoonful of eggs into his mouth.

"Yeah. You remember right? The older couple who live down the road. They came to visit a while back."

Heero looked out the window. "It's going to rain." He said.

"Nonsense." She waved his concern away and sat down across from him. "It's a nice day for a walk."

"It's going to rain." He repeated. She just ignored his comment and started to eat her breakfast.

Fortunately, _he_ had brought an umbrella. They had indeed visited their neighbors, who were both as kind and gentle as anyone Heero had ever met. They were both so completely thrilled to be having company, that it was almost heart wrenching. Apparently they didn't get many visitors.

The woman, Maria had refused to let them be anything other than stuffed and had seemingly fed them everything in the kitchen.

Her husband, Jose seemed genuinely interested in knowing everything about his young neighbors. He also told them of what crops grow well in the area, and what his farm had looked like when he had been a younger man.

Heero and Audrey for their part, listened with curiosity, and when Jose mentioned that he had once been a horse breeder, Audrey had not-so-subtly mentioned to Heero that she would love to have a horse.

The older couple apparently assumed that Heero and Audrey were married, and the two didn't feel the need to correct them.

They had spent quite a few hours there, sharing stories and such, until Heero told them that they would have to leave soon to avoid the rain.

Jose immediately offered to give them a ride back to their house, but they politely declined.

So therefore, after promising to visit again soon, the two excused themselves and headed off down the road.

They weren't yet halfway back when it started to rain.

"It's raining." Heero pointed out smugly, and made a point of opening his umbrella.

"I can see that." Audrey said as large drops of water started splashing down on top of her head.

"If only we had known..." Heero continued, looking smugger by the second. "Although I thought I might have mentioned…oh well. _I've_ got an umbrella."

Audrey rolled her eyes and blinked raindrops out of her eyelashes. She glanced back at him to see that he was amusedly watching her. With a huff, he turned to continue walking. Then, on second thought, she quickly snatched his umbrella out of his hand and took off down the road.

"Hey!" Heero shouted in surprise and took off after her. "Give it back!"

It was rather hard to run with an umbrella, she realized, and he was already faster than her. She hurriedly closed the umbrella as she ran, and then deciding that there was no way she could outrun him, turned and lunged at him, holding the umbrella out like a foil. Heero easily sidestepped, with a small chuckle. "That was the sloppiest lunge I've ever seen." He brushed his now wet bangs out of his eyes.

She looked offended and took a step back. Crouching down into a perfect fencing pose, she tried again. She had taken a fencing class or two at the Academy, but she had never really been good at it. Her lunge was more graceful this time, but again Heero easily sidestepped and, this time, he snatched the umbrella from her.

With almost impossible ease, he flipped it in the air, caught it by the handle, and crouched into his own fencing pose. He smirked at her. "Run."

Audrey froze and stared at him. He edged forward, and with a surprised laugh/scream she took off down the road.

Again, he caught up with her, and this time, he snatched her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Now that we're both soaking wet, I wonder who's going to take care of us when we're too sick to get out of bed."

She laughed as their house came into view.

Just then lightning flashed, and was almost immediately followed by a loud crash of thunder. Audrey flinched and let out a scream of surprise at the sudden violence of the storm. It took all of Heero's coordination to keep her from falling off of his shoulder. Instead of putting her down, however, he took off at a run toward the house.

A few minutes later, he deposited her safely on the front porch. They were both soaking wet. Heero was breathing rather heavily from the effort of carrying her and sprinting. Audrey was shivering.

They both stared at the pouring rain and lightning. Heero glanced over at Audrey a moment before a huge bolt of lightning illuminated everything in an odd purplish glow.

Audrey's face looking pale and purple reminded him quite suddenly of the way she had looked when he pulled her out of the pool, and without really thinking he reached out and touched her face.

She jumped at the contact and looked at him curiously. He was sure that he was looking at her oddly, from the way _she_ was looking at _him_.

"Heero?" She turned fully to him and laid her own hand on top of his. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He said pulling his hand back. "I was just…worried."

Her eyes softened, but there was a hint of confusion in them. "Worried? About what?"

He shrugged and pulled her towards him so that her back was against his chest and his chin was resting on top of her head. "I dunno. After…that night…I don't…you looked pale."

She shifted a bit looked up at him with the same smile she would wear if she had just seen a cute kitten.

He scowled a bit. "I'm serious, and I suppose that I'll just be honest with you. I don't think I've ever been so scared." His eyes lost focus a bit, and he looked away from her.

"Well I won't do it again if it makes you feel better." She offered.

He snorted. "See that you don't. Leave dangerous stuff to more resilient people."

She huffed as if offended. "I am quite resilient."

"Not enough." He said, finally looking back at her. The expression on his face was unreadable, but she could clearly discern the fear in his eyes. "Promise you won't…you know…"

Although she was momentarily shocked by how vulnerable he sounded, she quickly turned reassuring. "Sure. I'm not going anywhere. At least for a while. Once you get married or something, it would probably be a little awkward for me to be living with you, but—"

"Why don't _you_?" He interrupted her.

"Huh?" She asked, completely confused. "Why don't I _what_?"

"Marry me."

She pulled away from him and turned to stare at him in shock. "Are you…proposing?"

"Well…yeah." He said. He was aware of his heart threatening to burst from his chest, but he determinedly plowed on. "I don't really have a ring or anything because well…" He shrugged. "But I do mean it. And I suppose, if you want, I could do it like the movies." He knelt down in front of her. "Audrey Harper, will you marry me?"

She was too shocked to speak at first, but slowly, her eyes seemed to fill with tears, and she felt a grin break out on her face. She nodded, and then deciding that a nod would not suffice, threw herself into his arms. Heero toppled backwards and landed on his rear. Audrey was sitting in his lap and was alternating between crying and laughing. "Yes!"

Heero felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his chest, and he let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he'd been holding. Almost hesitantly, he wrapped one arm around her and used the other to turn her face to his. Tears were streaming down her face.

"I'll never understand you." He murmured wiping them off.

She just laughed. "You've got years to try."

He grinned at her and then leaned forward to capture her lips in a kiss.

* * *

Terribly sorry about the long wait. I hope you all enjoyed that. Thank you so much to all my reviewers. Reviews always appreciated. 


	28. A Happy Ending

Chapter 28-A Happy Ending

"So what exactly is going on?"

"My cousins are down for the week…they were really vague about why. Anyways one of them has a wife, and she had a baby a few months ago. I haven't seen him yet." Audrey explained holding her hand up to watch the sunlight glint off of her new engagement ring. It was a lovely silver color, although it was actually made of gundanium—Audrey's idea. When she held it just right, the entire ring appeared to swirl with different colors. There were two small diamonds surrounding a larger diamond in the middle. "I want you to meet my cousins. They're both really cool. And…We're going to have to tell my parents we're getting married…well actually, _you_ are going to have to ask my father for permission."

"I need your father's permission to marry you? Is that a law?"

"It depends." Audrey explained. "It you're a minor, you need parental consent to get married. After that, you don't."

"But we're both going to be of age." He said.

"I'm getting to that. Okay. It's tradition, dating back years and years for the groom to ask the father for his daughter's hand in marriage. In the actual ceremony, the bride's father, 'gives her away.' My father wouldn't like it at all if you didn't ask him. I know he'll agree…eventually. But it's more out of respect that you ask than actually needing permission. Get it?"

"I guess." He said. "But how do you know he'll agree? What if he doesn't? I mean, he nearly disowned you when you tried to leave with me."

"But this is different. Marrying you is more respectable than living with you while we're not married."

"You're sure he'll see it that way?"

"Well...I don't know per se. But, well…we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Heero sighed as Audrey's parents' house came into view. He was suddenly feeling nervous.

Audrey looked over at him, and smiled a bit at his expression. "Don't worry. You don't have to talk to him right now."

Heero turned into the long driveway and pulled to a stop in front of the house. Audrey hopped out of the car, slung her bag over her shoulder and skipped off toward the house. Heero followed a little more sedately.

The door was opened after just a few knocks, and Jeanne beamed at them. "Oh Madamoiselle! Monsieur." She nodded to Heero and gave Audrey a hug, before telling her something in French.

The two women turned and headed into the house, still talking in French. Heero couldn't understand a word of it, so he just followed awkwardly.

Finally Jeanne and another servant took their bags and left Heero and Audrey alone in the foyer.

"Everyone's out, except for my two cousins and the baby. They're upstairs." Heero just nodded and Audrey headed up the stairs and down the hall.

They reached a door and pushed it open without knocking.

Two nearly identical men were standing on either side of the pool table. They both turned as they came in. Both were tall, and slender with dark hair and eyes. The only reason Heero could tell them apart was because one had a goatee whereas the other was clean shaven.

"If it isn't our favorite cousin." The bearded one said with a wide grin. He handed his pool stick off to his brother and strode over to scoop Audrey into a crushing bear hug. The other man put down the pool sticks with a playful scowl at his brother before following him.

"We were wondering when you'd show up." He pulled Audrey from the other man's arms and gave her his own hug.

"Ah and who's this?" The first man turned to Heero and extended his hand.

"Heero Yuy." Heero introduced himself politely. "It's a pleasure."

"Yeah nice to meet you." The man shook Heero's hand enthusiastically. "I'm Rick. This is my older brother Ian."

"Nice to meet you." Ian said shaking Heero's hand as well. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

Heero cocked an eyebrow, but before he could ask anything, Rick cut in with a laugh.

"Some of it was good. We didn't take much Uncle Greg says very seriously, so don't worry."

"That's a relief." Audrey said. "I can't imagine he'd have said anything nice."

"Oh he didn't." Rick assured her. "I recall the term 'punk' being thrown around quite a bit."

"But father seems to like you quite a bit." Ian turned a critical eye toward Heero. "You used to be a gundam pilot." It was more a statement than a question but Heero nodded in confirmation anyway.

"When dad told me Audrey was dating a veteran, I was expecting someone in their forties."

"You are quite young." Ian pointed out.

"Younger than both of you." Audrey cut in. "But what are you doing butting into his business?"

Rick draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Now don't get all upset. You can't blame us for being curious. It's not every day that you meet a gundam pilot now is it?"

"You'll have to forgive us if we seemed rude." Ian said genuinely, turning to Heero.

"No problem." Heero shrugged, grateful that someone had steered the conversation in another direction.

"Well we did have a reason for asking, you see. Part of the reason we're here." Ian continued, sharing a secretive look with Rick. "We've convinced Uncle and father to join us for a shooting party."

"A shooting party?" Heero and Audrey asked at the same time.

"Since when do you do that sort of thing?" Audrey asked visibly shocked. "I can't imagine daddy agreeing to it."

"Since it's no longer political faux pas to enjoy shooting a gun." Rick said playfully. "And for your information dearest little cousin, he already has."

"He seemed pretty excited, as a matter of fact." Ian lowered his voice. "Word has it, he was quite a shot in his younger days. You see that's where the idea came from. We happened upon the topic with dad, and he told us how fun it would be if we all went out to the range."

Audrey looked doubtful.

"I've told him I wouldn't believe it until I see it. But this weekend there's a to-" Ian stomped on Rick's foot. Rick cut off and then continued with a laugh. "But down to business." He turned to Heero. "We absolutely insist that you come along."

"Me?" Heero wasn't entirely sure what a shooting party entailed. He looked to Audrey for help, but she was grinning at him.

"I think that's a great idea." She said. "A nice bonding experience don't you think."

"Any specific reason he'd need to bond with your dad?" Rick snatched up her hand, and eyed the ring with a smirk.

"As you see." She countered, with a smile of her own.

Rick turned back to Ian and extended his hand. "Told ya."

"Congratulations." Ian said to the couple while trying to subtly pass Rick a ten dollar bill.

"I'll pretend I didn't see that." Audrey said, rolling her eyes.

"You should probably take that off if you don't want an uprising." Rick said.

Audrey frowned and looked at the ring. She hadn't taken it off since Heero had given it to her. She looked over at Heero.

"I'd rather not have do listen you your father yell at me the _entire_ time I'm here." He said.

"He'll do that anyway." Audrey mumbled, but still reluctantly slid it off.

Rick and Ian shared a laugh.

"So…everyone's…shopping?" Audrey asked to change the subject.

"Yeah." Ian chuckled a bit and Rick started hooting with laughter. "It seems that our fathers have…er…grown out of their old sportswear." He patted his stomach with a grin.

Audrey laughed.

"And none of the women could pass up the opportunity for a shopping spree." Rick explained after he'd pulled himself together.

"But they left Danny here? With just you two?"

"I'll have you know that we are perfectly capable." Ian pulled a baby monitor out of his pocket and waved it at her.

Audrey gave him a mock doubtful look.

"You can see him if you want." Ian offered. "It's almost time to feed him anyways." He turned and headed out of the room, Audrey hot on his heels.

"And probably to change him too." Rick whispered to Heero as they followed the other two out of the room. "We're lucky she's here. Melissa—that's Ian's wife—specifically told the servants to make _us _change the diapers."

When they reached the room, they found Ian and Audrey leaning over a small bassinet. Audrey was going on about how cute 'little Danny' was. Ian was explaining, with pride, every single one of the baby's features.

Heero peeked over her shoulder to see what the fuss was about. It looked just like a regular baby to him. Really tiny, dressed in a blue onesy, with a small patch of dark hair on his head. He'd never seen one so small in person, but he had seen quite a few that looked exactly like the one in the crib on TV. He cocked an eyebrow and tried from a different angle. Still nothing.

Rick leaned around Heero and started planning Danny's brilliant future as a stunt biker.

Heero supposed it was inevitable with all the fuss around him, that the baby would wake up. The room was soon filled with high pitched cries. Heero backed up a bit, not really knowing what to make of the situation.

Ian and Audrey seemed to have a quiet conversation, and then Audrey picked Danny up and, holding him to her chest, started patting his back. The cries soon subsided to low whines.

"You're a natural." Ian said with a smile.

"Most women are." Audrey said.

They all stood silently for a few seconds as Danny's whimpers died down completely. Ian sniffed inconspicuously. "Well he's probably hungry, so I guess I'll go fix him a bottle." He said suddenly, breaking the silence.

The comment seemed to spur Rick on. "No no! I'll go!" He insisted hurrying toward the door.

"That's okay." Ian said. "I've got it."

"We'll both go…to make sure we get it right."

"Good idea. We'll be right back."

Audrey stared after them in confusion before Ian poked his head back into the room. "And if the desire so strikes you" He said with a grin. "You may change his diaper." With that he was gone.

Audrey gaped for a second and then sniffed the air. "Those bastards." She growled. "Heero, can you turn the light on?"

He quietly obeyed and then watched as Audrey worked to spread a blanket across the bed and balance Danny at the same time. "What are you doing?"

"I suppose I'm going to change his diaper." Audrey said, lying Danny down on top of the blanket. She made a funny face at the baby and he flailed his arms and legs trying to grab her. "Uh oh! You made a poopie. Yes you did. Yes you did. But that's okay. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We'll clean you right up." She straightened up and looked around the room before looking at Heero. "Can you grab me that bag?"

Heero got it and brought it to her. He continued to stand behind her watching curiously as pulled some things out of the bag and unsnapped Danny's onesy. She then pulled open Danny's diaper.

Heero's curious expression was instantly replaced by a look of terror. His eyes widened, and he had to work to fight back a gag. He clapped both hands over his face and stumbled backwards until the wall stopped him from going any further.

Audrey looked back at him and chuckled at his disturbed expression.

"Is that normal?" He asked. His words came out muffled since he didn't dare remove his hands from his nose and mouth.

"Yeah." She said. "It's not as bad as it looks. Come over here."

He just shook his head and kept his back firmly pressed against the opposite wall.

"Oh quit being such a baby. It won't kill you. You'd think that after fighting in a war you could handle a little poop."

"I'd rather touch nuclear waste." He said. "That's disgusting."

She rolled her eyes and silently finished changing Danny's diaper. After she'd snapped him back up, she picked him up and placed him back on her chest. "Now let's go see where your daddy and uncle have disappeared to. They're probably dawdling around so that they don't have to help." She looked at Heero who was still by the wall with his mouth covered. "It's safe now." She said with a laugh.

He cautiously removed his hands and followed her as she walked out of the room and headed downstairs.

"You think she finished yet?" They heard Rick ask as they walked it.

"I did." Audrey answered.

Both men spun and looked at them with guilty expressions.

Audrey slid into a chair and nestled Danny into the crook of her arm. Ian handed her the bottle and slid into another chair. Heero cautiously sat down on the other side of Audrey. He looked as though he expected a dirty diaper to be dropped on him at any second, but he seemed to slowly be getting over the notion. Audrey decided to not mention projectile vomiting to him, lest he leave the room altogether.

"So how are things?" Rick asked to break the silence as he, plopped down across from Audrey.

"Alright." She said.

"Is it true you got shot?" Ian asked.

"Uhh. Kinda." Audrey said. Her cousins leaned in closer. "I was wearing a bulletproof…vest."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Audrey asked. "Why was I wearing a vest or why was I shot at?"

"Both."

"Oh well…uhh…" She looked at Heero.

"The Preventers needed her to sneak arms into Relena Peacecraft's banquet. We knew there would probably be trouble and there was. An assassin shot at Relena. Audrey pushed her out of the way, and took the bullets for her."

Her two cousins stared at Audrey in shock, and she ducked her head with a blush.

"Our baby cousin?" Ian said finally overcoming his shock.

"Saving people?" Rick and Ian shared a surprised look before looking back at Audrey.

She was saved from having to respond by her parents, aunt, uncle, and Ian's wife coming in.

"Oh my baby's here!" Lillian squealed, rushing over and kissing Audrey's cheek.

"Hi mom." Audrey said, relieved at the interruption. "Hi everyone."

Her Aunt Theresa hurried over to Audrey and looked her over. "Oh child! We heard about your accident." She gave her a quick kiss and then gave Heero one as well.

Heero blushed in embarrassment, but the blush quickly faded when he noticed the glare Gregory was sending him.

"But you look okay." Theresa finished.

"You look more than okay." Uncle Freddie said stepping fully into the room and blocking Gregory's view of Heero. "You're radiant." He bent down to whisper in her ear. "But I wouldn't talk about it much. Your father has heard some odd rumors from his friends." He straightened up. "So! We are now all properly possessed of outdoor clothing. We will be ready tomorrow morning bright and early." He turned to Heero. "You will join us won't you?"

"Of course he will." Rick spoke up.

"Excellent!" Uncle Freddie said. "We'll be such a jolly party. Oh and of course Audrey, you're invited as well."

"To a shooting party?" She asked incredulously. Heero froze on side of her. "Uh…no thanks. Maybe next time."

"Oh. Oh well then." Uncle Freddy said. "It will be just the guys then." He draped his arm over Gregory's shoulder, and led him scowling out of the room. "Come along Gregory, I'm feeling a spot of rum right about now. How about you?"

* * *

The next morning, Heero found himself sqeezed into the back seat of Gregory's rather fancy car. Rick was sitting on side of him with Ian against the other window. They were both apparently half asleep. Gregory was driving, and Uncle Fred was sitting in the passenger seat.

"So Heero." Uncle Fred asked suddenly, breaking the silence and causing everyone to jerk fully awake. "I don't remember if I ever asked, but I suppose that it's safe to assume that you've used a gun before."

Rick and Ian started snickering, and Gregory scowled.

"I…can handle one…pretty well." Heero answered, allowing himself to chuckle a bit.

"Pretty well you say?" Uncle Fred turned in his seat to look at Heero. "Now I've got my expectations set pretty high. I had assumed that you were nothing short of excellent."

Heero just shrugged, and Uncle Fred smiled at him before turning around and slapping Gregory's shoulder. "I daresay that he'll put you to shame, old boy."

"He probably will." Gregory agreed to everyone's shock. "But I was never a soldier."

Uncle Fred snorted. "And it's a good thing too. I would hate for my fate to rest on your skills. Oh, but look. We're here."

'Here' was seemingly nothing more than a wooden lodge set in front of a large field. The five men piled out of the car and headed inside. There were a few men milling about, and there were large cases lining a wall behind a counter, all full of different rifles and ammunition. Heero scanned the wall full of rifles, mentally noting the pros and cons of each.

"What are we shooting at?" Heero asked Rick.

"Clay pigeons." He answered scanning the wall himself. "They get shot in the air."

Heero nodded.

A man with grey hair and a mustache walked out. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

Uncle Freddie walked up. "We'd like a Trap range and…60 pigeons." The man told him the price for what he'd asked for and for five rifles.

"Sounds fair enough." Uncle Freddie said and handed the man his card.

"Alright gentlemen." The man said once Uncle Freddie had paid. "Choose your weapon."

"You go ahead first." Uncle Freddie told Heero. "You probably know more about them than all of us put together."

Heero scanned the wall again before his eyes rested on one rifle in particular. "I'll take that one." He pointed.

"That one?" The man looked him up and down. "It's got a pretty powerful kick, son. You sure you can handle it."

Heero just nodded.

The man gave him a doubtful look but took the rifle down anyway. "If you change your mind just bring it back. I'll give you another one."

The other four men got their rifles and they all headed out to the range.

"Okay." Uncle Freddie said staring confusedly at the machine and the box of clay pigeons beside it. "I'm assuming that we're to put these together somehow. Any ideas?"

Rick scooted past him and quickly set it up. "Who's first?"

"I'd like to try my hand at it." Uncle Fred said stepping forward. Rick let it go. Uncle Fred shot a few times, and ended up hitting in on his fourth try. "It's a bit harder than it looks."

Gregory went next. He missed the first one altogether, and hit the second pigeon only after three tries.

Ian and Rick were a bit better. They managed to hit their pigeons a bit faster.

Finally it was Heero's turn. He stepped forward and got his rifle ready.

"Ready?" Rick asked.

"Yeah."

"Pull."

Faster than anyone could respond, Heero fired and his pigeon shattered. The four other men stared at him in silent amazement as he brought the rifle down and turned around.

He looked a little sheepish, and shifted his weight nervously. They acted like they'd never seen anyone shoot before.

"Do that again." Rick said after a few agonizing minutes of silence. He loaded another pigeon and fired it.

Heero whipped around and in one shot, again shattered the pigeon.

"He's amazing." Uncle Fred said.

Gregory and Ian were still shocked speechless.

Just then two men walked up. They had apparently seen Heero's shots.

"He here for the tournament?" One said nodding toward Heero.

"Tournament?" Uncle Fred and Gregory both looked at him curiously.

"Today. Sporting Clay Tournament." The second man said. "It starts at 10 o'clock. Thousand dollar prize for first place."

Everyone's eyes widened at the amount of the prize—everyone except for Ian and Rick—and they looked over at Heero.

"You should do it." Rick said to Heero. Ian nodded to back him up. Heero looked skeptical. "They've got quite a few contestants this year, but I'm sure you can take them all."

"You knew about it?" Uncle Freddie asked Rick and Ian.

"Well…yeah. Sort of." Rick said. "We saw the commercial for the tournament. That's how we found out about this place. We thought we'd come check it out and drag you two lards along. Who knew Audrey's boyfriend was such a good shot though?"

"How many can you hit in a row son?" One of the men asked.

Heero just shrugged.

"Give it a try then." He looked at the group of men and gestured to the machine. "May I?"

"Go ahead." Rick said. He and the other four stood back and watched as Heero turned back to the range. He didn't really like being singled out, but no one could deny that he was a good shot. Plus, a thousand dollars would be nice.

The man tinkered with the trap and pigeons started flying. Some went high, some low, some slow, some fast. Heero hit each one with only one shot.

When the trap finally finished, Heero relaxed and turned back around to find that a small crowd of amazed onlookers had gathered around him.

He nervously shifted his weight and stared back at them. Somewhere in the small crowd, someone started clapping. The clapping spread, and soon Heero was standing embarrassedly in front of a crowd of applauding people.

"So you'll join, eh?" The man asked.

"Uh…" He looked to Uncle Fred who nodded enthusiastically. "Sure."

* * *

"Where on earth are they?" Melissa asked after having put Danny to bed upstairs.

"I have no idea." Audrey said. "I didn't think they were going to be gone this long either." She checked the clock. "It's almost seven."

Just then there was a commotion in the driveway, and the front door burst open. Audrey and Melissa rushed into the foyer to see what was going on. It sounded like someone was wailing.

When they reached the foyer, however, all their worries were put at ease. Ian and Rick arms were draped across Heero's shoulders. The wailing sound was Rick singing a loud off-key rendition of "We are the Champions." Heero looked as if he didn't know whether he should be enjoying the serenade or be disturbed.

Uncle Fred and Gregory were standing behind them looking amused.

"Where have you been?" Melissa demanded.

Lillian and Aunt Theresa walked in at that very moment, and it was obvious by their stern looks that they had been wondering the same thing. Ian and Rick skipped forward, dragging Heero along with them. Rick grabbed Heero's hand and thrust it into the air, showing everyone the golden trophy he held. Rick and Ian started up a new round of "We are the Champions." Uncle Fred joined in as well, and Gregory, oddly enough, started to laugh.

Heero looked as though he couldn't quite comprehend the situation. He was a little confused that Gregory hadn't said anything negative toward him since he'd won the tournament and had even given him a "congratulations" and pat on the back.

He looked around the room to see that Lillian, Aunt Theresa, and Melissa were all scowling at the men. He wasn't entirely sure why they would be mad at them. It seemed that the other men had known that they would be in trouble when they got back—something about not checking in and the women being worried. He seemed to recall a similar thing happening when he hadn't bothered to tell Audrey that he would be fighting in the Mariemaia incident.

He looked over at Audrey to see if she looked upset at the moment. She was watching her cousins in amusement. That was definitely a good sign. Finally, when the singing quieted down a bit, Audrey turned toward him and asked. "You won…what?"

"A thousand dollars!" Rick said for him.

"A thousand dollars?"

"Who won a thousand dollars?" Lillian asked.

"Heero did." Gregory said. The room went silent for a moment.

Audrey stared at Heero, who was trying to gently pull his arm away from Rick. He finally did. He looked over at Audrey, handed her the trophy, and then shoved his hands into his pockets.

Audrey stared at the trophy. It was shaped like a big cup and had a little man with a rifle on top. "Sporting Clay State Tournament. 1st Place." She read out loud. "You won this?" She looked up at Heero.

He nodded.

"He wiped the floor with them!" Rick shouted, startling everyone. He clapped Heero on the back.

"I've never seen anything like it." Uncle Fred added. "Perfect scores every time."  
"Never missed one." Ian added.

Heero just shrugged, a little embarrassed at the attention.

"I wish I could have seen it." Audrey said.

"It was a spur of the moment thing." Heero told her.

She pouted for a second and then smiled. "So you had fun then."

"Sure did!" Rick tightened his arm around Heero's neck. "The crowd loved him. After he finished the last round, a bunch of women took their shirts—." He stopped and looked at his mom sheepishly as if wondering if he would get in trouble. There was some part of him that told him that since he was 22 years old, his mom couldn't do much to him. Still, though. He looked to his dad and brother, but all of the men in the room seemed to have found something very interesting on the ceiling. He looked back to his mom. "So…umm…when's supper?"

"The servants should be setting it out now." Theresa said, walking toward Heero. "But what's this? You won a shooting contest." She gave him a kiss on each cheek that left him blushing, and then turned to Audrey. "It's a good one you got here. A man's no good if he can't aim."

"Good heavens Theresa." Lillian said pulling her away, but not before Theresa could give a playful swat to Heero's backside.

Heero and Audrey seemed confused for a second, before Rick's snickering made them realize the meaning of her statement. They both blushed furiously.

Theresa seemed to remember Rick's question and turned to her younger son. "Young man, I hope you realize that none of you will be getting desert."

Ian, Rick, and Fred groaned.

"Now none of that." Melissa said, taking Ian by the arm and leading him into the dining room. "All you had to do was call once and tell us that you were okay and that you all would be staying late."  
"You can't blame us for worrying." Lillian took Gregory by the arm and started leading him off as well. "A shooting range is a dangerous place. Who knows what could have happened."

Heero cast Audrey a significant look as she started pulling him toward the dining room. She slapped him lightly on the stomach, and he chuckled.

* * *

The next day, Heero knocked hesitantly on the door to Gregory's office. He had put off this moment for the entire trip, and since they were leaving in a few hours, he knew that if he was going to do it at all, it would have to be then. He looked back at Audrey with a pleading expression.

She just mouthed "good luck" to him as Gregory called him in.

He stepped silently into the room, but aside from closing the door behind him, made no further movement.

Gregory looked up at him, and the two locked eyes for a moment.

"Come closer." Gregory demanded, and after Heero obeyed, he asked. "Well?"

Heero took a deep breath. Gregory had been near decent to him after he had won the tournament, but he didn't know quite how far that grace would extend. Why was talking with this man always so difficult for him? "I wanted to ask…for permission to marry Audrey."

Gregory straightened in his seat and stared at Heero in shock. "You want to marry my daughter?" Gregory interrupted, sounding like he dreaded the idea.

Heero nodded nervously. "Yes…sir."

Gregory shuffled his papers into a neat stack and set them aside. "Have a seat." He said relaxing a bit in his chair.

Heero nervously strode forward and sat in one of the chairs in front of Gregory's desk.

"You may know," Gregory started. "That I have never been very fond of you."

Heero remained silent, all the while thinking that that was the understatement of the year.

"But" He said as if the words physically hurt him. "It has been brought to my attention, that I may not have given you a fair chance."

Heero straightened hopefully.

"I think we should get a few things out of the way."

Heero just nodded, wondering what the man was talking about.

"Do you plan to make my daughter work for the rest of her life?"

"Work? As in a job?"

Gregory scowled dangerously. "While we're on the subject, why don't you tell me exactly what happened at the banquet a few weeks ago and why I keep getting reports that my daughter looked pregnant."

"Oh." Heero couldn't help but squirm a bit. He thought for a few seconds about where to start, and then finally decided to just tell him everything. "Well you may have known that Relena Peacecraft's recent move away from pacifism had quite a few people upset. She even received two threats."

Gregory looked interested.

"Well, the Preventers wanted her either to position more security guards at the party or to let us provide it. She refused, and so we—her Milliardo Peacecraft included" He clarified "decided that it would be best if we went as guests and brought weapons. And the only way that we could think of to get guns past the metal detectors was to put them into a fake belly…which Audrey wore. She had a choice in it, of course. And she was never supposed to be in any danger—at least no more than any other guest there. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and well…she ended up saving Relena's life, so we can hardly say that we're sorry for bringing her. She hasn't complained about it either."

Gregory stared at him for a long while. Heero just stared back. Finally after a few agonizingly slow minutes, Gregory blinked. "I see. And did she have a choice in working in the first place."

Heero cocked an eyebrow. "She never led me to believe that she wanted to be 'taken care of' in that way. I'm perfectly willing to provide for her, but I don't think she wants that."

"Really? And what is your job exactly."

"I'm a recruit trainer for the Preventers, but I would also do field work if the situation is dire enough."

"What do you mean 'dire?'"

"Requiring skill that no one but a gundam pilot would have." Having seen Heero's performance at the tournament the day before, Gregory had no doubt that there were a few skills that Heero possessed that most other men did not.

"And do you think there may be a situation like this?"

Heero shrugged, wondering what the man was driving at. "I couldn't say. Maybe."

"Is there any chance you could be killed while doing this."

"Ummm…yes. But there's a risk factor to nearly every job. I'd wager someone could find reason to put a bullet in you…sir."

Gregory looked taken aback, but then almost surreally, he smiled. "I suppose you're right."

Heero sighed in relief. The statement had slipped out before he could stop himself, but he'd instantly regretted it.

"The reason I ask," Gregory said, reasonably. "is because, I don't want to see my daughter hurt…or poor. I assume your work has insurance then?"

Heero nodded. He supposed they did too, although he'd never checked.

"And I assume that you would know _if_, you were to marry my daughter how to go about changing your plan to provide for her in the case of your…demise."

Heero stared. _Is he planning for me die?_

"You'll have to figure that out then." Gregory said taking his silence as a "no."

Heero sat up straighter at his wording.

Gregory pretended not to notice. "You have a house I understand."

Heero nodded.

"Near Sanction?"

He nodded again. He hoped Gregory wouldn't dive into a million questions about this as well.

Thankfully he didn't. All he asked was "Will you put her name on the title?"

"It's already there." Heero said, wondering if he should have mentioned that.

"Is it?" Gregory looked surprised, but didn't say anything else about it. "So you are capable of taking care of my daughter it seems. You will keep her safe?"

Heero nodded.

"Never hurt her." His eyes darkened threateningly.

"Never." Heero agreed.

"Do you love her?"

"Yes sir."

"Yes. And I believe that she loves you as well. You've asked her?" Heero nodded.

"Well then…" A pained expression briefly crossed Gregory's face, but it disappeared after a second. "Welcome to the family." Forcing a small smile, he stood and extended his hand. "Make her happy, son."

Heero was shocked for a moment, and then beamed. He stood and accepted Gregory's hand. "Thank you."

Deciding not to test his luck by waiting around, Heero hurriedly scurried out of his office.

Audrey was waiting right outside, all of her relatives, and the servants crowding in the hallway. "Well?" Audrey asked impatiently the second he stepped out of the doorway.

Heero grinned at her, and she flung herself into his arms. With no thought to all the people crowded around them, Heero picked her up and spun her around before setting her back down and kissing her. The hallway erupted into cheers.

They pulled apart and Audrey took the ring out of her pocket. Heero took it from her and, after slipping it onto her finger, pulled her into another kiss.

* * *

After months of planning and preparing—during which time Audrey's mother and Aunt had shown her every single bridal magazine they could get their hands on, and Heero had spent much more time with Audrey's father than he ever cared to—the day had finally come.

Heero stood on the altar of a large fancy church. The four other gundam pilots were lined up behind him—Duo directly to his right.

There were beautiful flowers decorating the church and a white silk running down the middle aisle. Familiar faces filled the seats, and Heero was actually surprised at how many people he knew.

Jonathan's and his mother were somewhere in the church. When he'd seen him earlier, Jonathan had sent him a smirk. Heero didn't have to think too hard to know what it meant. Jonathan would no doubt tell him that he'd predicted they would get married.

Hale and his wife and daughter, along with nearly every recruit that Heero had ever trained were taking a large portion of the seats. Other Preventers, along with Milliardo Peacecraft, his sister, and Pagan were there. Catherine, Dorothy, and Hilde were sitting together near the front.

Their neighbors, Jose and Maria, were present as well. So were Cynthia, her husband, Anna, Patrick, and Lucy.

Audrey's family and servants took up the remainder of the area.

The organ started playing. Heero stiffened and looked to the back of the church, everyone else turned around to see. The door in the back of the church opened and out stepped Mariemaia dressed in a frilly golden dress. Very slowly—partly because of respect and partly because she was still rather weak—she walked up the aisle, tossing flowers left and right. A few seconds later, Jeanne appeared at the entrance, wearing a more sedate dress of the same color. Noin, Sally, and Une followed her out and took their places on the altar.

The music changed. Heero swallowed nervously, his eyes glued to the doorway. It opened again, and there stood Audrey and her father, arm in arm.

Heero was sure that he knew how to breathe, but at the moment, the ability seemed to escape him. Audrey was dressed in a corseted, silky white dress, that fell off her shoulders. The poofy skirt was long and left a silky train behind her. A veil obscured her face, but Heero could just make out her blond curls beneath it.

He'd never seen a more beautiful sight.

Everyone in the church stood, but Heero hardly noticed. He did notice, however that Audrey and her father were walking towards him.

He wondered for a second whether it could really be happening, but then decided that whether he was in reality or not, this was where he wanted to be.

Audrey and her father reached him, and Gregory—seeming quite reluctant to do so—placed her hand in his. He took a step back blinking to try to keep his tears at bay.

Audrey's mother and Aunt were already in crying. He was sure that he had seen Relena pull a hanky out from where she was sitting in the back.

Heero and Audrey turned, hand in hand to face the priest.

"Dearly beloved," He began. "We are gathered here today…."

As the priest went on, Heero looked over at Audrey, she was absolutely gorgeous. It was at that moment that he wondered how he had ever managed without her. He was certain that he never could again.

"Mr. Yuy." Heero snapped out of his reverie, hoping that he hadn't missed anything. To his relief, he hadn't. The priest motioned for him to recite his vows.

Heero turned to Audrey. "I, Heero Yuy, take you, Audrey Harper, to be my lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish; and I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us."

"Now, take the ring, put it on her finger, and say 'with this ring, I thee wed.'"

Heero turned to Duo, and couldn't help but laugh.

Duo choked and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "It's not funny." He whispered, sniffing and pulling himself straight. "Boys don't cry."

Heero nodded with a smirk and looked at the other three gundam pilots. Quatre was faring no better than Duo, but at least he had a handkerchief. He gave Heero a watery grin. Wufei and Trowa both gave him amused smiles.

Heero grinned back and turned to Duo, who had dried his face, but was still sniffing every now and then. "The ring?"

Dou handed it to him, and Heero turned back to Audrey. "With this ring I thee wed. Let it be a symbol of my promises to you and a reminder of my devotion to you."

Audrey repeated the vows and placed a ring, also made of gundanium onto his finger."

The priest went into a long proclamation of how they would share all their wealth and happiness for the rest of their lives and then said the words that Heero had been waiting to hear that entire day. "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Heero grinned and gently raised Audrey's veil. She smiled back at him, blushing a bit as how amazed he looked.

The entire church went silent as Heero stepped closer. "I love you…my wife." He whispered with a small smirk, and then amongst whistles and applause, leaned down and captured her lips in their first kiss as husband and wife.

THE END

* * *

Hello there. So it hasn't taken me forever to update again. Yay!

But, sadly, this is the end of this story. I am considering a sequel, but if it does in fact happen, we won't be seeing it for a while.

Anyways, one last time, I want to thank all of my reviewers. You guys have been absolutely great!


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